If you look at the profile and the photo up on the left you see a woman of a certain age who seems accepting of what life has brought her. There have been tremendous highs and lows, and she understands that sometimes she can’t control things, but she does the best she can.
In the photo below, there you are: a sweet, bright-eyed girl who doesn’t have a clue of what lies ahead for the next 50 years. And you could not in a million years imagine yourself the age of that photo on the left. And if you did, you would assume decrepitude.
The girl in the picture below has only been kissed, not yet even fondled. She cannot see that someday she will have two sons and two granddaughters who love her. That she will write some books and experience great suffering and joy, and travel the world, around and around. Or that she will spend much of her life alone, and yet at peace.
The girl below smiles although she feels lost and unloved. She hopes, but she doesn't know what to expect. She doesn’t know that the boy she will begin to date in a few months will become her husband, the first of two good husbands in her life, and that things will change to privilege and then back again, and again. And that very late in her life she would find yet another good man to live with.
Oh girl that I was, you seem stiff in the photo below. In some ways, older than the woman on the left, who looks at you at 17 -- such a hopeful, innocent -- with great love and understanding. You have so much ahead of you. You will try. You will suffer. You will fail. You will succeed.
You will survive.
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ccdarling
nilesite
cancerdancer
Liberal Southern Democrat
Emily Rapp
Nick Carraway
Salon.com
Comments
Thank you and I will add your post to the index.
I dare...
It's nice to look at the untouched selves we had then and not want to trade places, isn't it?
Wonderful, Lea
And, that photo is gorgeous. You may be wiser now but no less beautiful.
This was lovely to read Lea.
Denese
You will survive."
And then some. What a cool way to look back at it. You are here.
Lea, you looked beautiful then. You're beautiful now. And I don't just mean your picture, I mean the words you write.
You've aged well, Lea, both in mind and body. Congratulations on your good fortune! You've blazed through the tough spots like a true champion. A giant {{{R}}} for resilience.
And Cranky, some people did seem happy at 17.
And Bellwether, I never learned the art of gnashing.
How's your eye doing, Rod? Things happen when you've had lots of years of lots of fun.