Last week I came stumbled upon this picture which had been hidden away since I lost my Mum 8 years ago this July. It is of my Mum and is a snapshot in time when she lived in an orphanage in Africa. The photograph had been very neatly cut up (not by me) years and years ago only to include her in it. Not sure why it was cut up, who by or who else was in it why it was cut up that is all open to mysterious interpretation which is something that photographs can do in the same way art can.
Having found the photograph, I thought I would use it and played about with it last week hence the graphic writing on it. The first thing that sprang to mind was to write Mommy's Attic @ RMontalban - perhaps thinking I could use the image as a vehicle for selling something (vintage handbags and clothes that I love but some of which I own I know I will never wear again as an example), or perhaps just as a blog spot for me to talk about something (hadn't decided what as there are lots of possibilities there too) and it has been in my iphone and lurking in my mind's attic since then!
For me you see this photograph symbolises one of the many memories that shaped my Mum (emotionally and physically). A period in her life that she stored away in her attic some of which I know about and some of which I don't and now never will.
In turn looking at myself and how I too am a Mother, a wife, a sister, a relative, a friend and of course me as me there is so much about me (all open to interpretation I of course understand) some of which I interpret and share and some I don't sometimes deliberately or otherwise, which is true of most people. That said, this photograph made me think and set off numerous lightbulbs in my head - isn't that a good thing?! Ha ha, to some people maybe, and other's not!!!
Anyway, I still have not decided what to do with this photograph, but sharing it here is a start! I have a huge attic in my head that sometimes needs sifting through and perhaps this is my vehicle to do so?! Maybe it is yours too?
Life is extraordinary and is all open to interpretation and for you living your own life you make choices. I know you may think you don't have a choice in your life or in how it is interpreted and yes a portion of that may also be true, however that is also your choice as to how you slot things together or who you let decide what choice is made, sometimes it will be right and sometimes not.
Goodness even thinking about choices, my Mum chose to cope with a broken marriage at a time when it was scandalous, chose to initially put up with my real father for years and years, father his children and put up with the beatings he gave her. She had no choice in the loss of her parents in WW2 at the age of about 7 but she did live a full life. Yes some or all of the choices she had to make may have sent many a person over the cliff, but not her she fought because she knew life was precious. Yes the life she led she too may have wondered about the choices she made. She too may have thought about what those changes may have resulted in and about the hand she had dealt but then again she also was happy with how her decisions played out. She made them the best she could and knew they had resulted in many positive outcomes, not least of which were her children. She lived and gave life, she loved and was loved back, she laughed and was sometimes, like me, the butt of the joke, she cried tears of joy and sadness, she knew pain both her own and others, survived and embraced joy and extend it whenever she could. Of course she struggled at times and didn't at others but most of all she lived for which I am eternally grateful.
Mommy's attic is my attic, my sister's attic and is my son's attic too - of course our attic's are all different, and so they should be from each other and also that of others and like a film, they will play their own story. There will always be times when our attic's are full of rubbish and then not but I believe the foundation of a good attic is one which shows how to live life, make light of it, share in life, take pleasure and comfort in life knowing that there is always a bigger picture it, maybe it is time to open up a window to it!
Dexter does love his Granny & Grandad and likes to go on the nearby (on their doorstep really) golf course and find golf balls with his Granny as they climb over ditches and once he fell into one and got a wet bum - that was his funniest memory of the golf course! I think this photo however is funnier as we sat in cafe and reminds me of a time when me and my sister did the same in New York wearing these Billy Bob teeth and getting looks from people who thought they were our real teeth!!
