Mom saw her as “the wind beneath her wings”. We all did.

By the time I was born she was an old woman, with long lanky wrinkled legs and arms, her face lined by decades of smiles, and smoking. She was well-loved, for her spirit, her mind, and her distinctive style. She believed in UFO’s and “do unto others as you would have done onto you“, which has become a rare sentiment in our world of thoughtlessness and greed. She had an open mind and a keen sense of right from wrong. My own moral code, my values, were etched by her.

These photos are a snapshot from the last days of the 1930’s. War was on the horizon, and I wonder what fears they had, as the news overseas of Hitler’s intentions became clearer, day by day.

To her friends, she was Milly, to my Mom’s friends Mrs. D. She had this calming presence, and it is no wonder she is remembered and missed by so many still, almost 35 years after her death.

But way back then, before the war, before Mom was born, it is so easy to forget she was once this cheeky girl who loved the beach and to make people laugh. Back in the days when she was the ring-leader, the intelligent, sophisticated woman who liked to dance to Guy Lombardo at the Stork Club, after a day of sand and sun.

I often wonder what she would think of these chaotic days, what her wisdom would be.

WPC :: cheeky