Back to Beginnings

With the anniversary of my dad’s death yesterday and the anniversary of my parents’ joint funeral on the 28th, my mind has still been preoccupied with memories of their last days.  I wrote such a sad post last week, that I fantasized about printing it up, ripping it to shreds, and then burning it.  It will be a while before I want to read it again.  So this week I decided to do something a little lighter. (That should be easy enough to accomplish!)

The subjects of this post will still be my mom and dad.  But instead of writing any more about their endings, I thought I would write about their beginnings.  Not in any detail, I just want to post a few early photos of them that capture a bit of their personality.  The two photos that I picked also happen to be the childhood photos that were included in the slideshow of their lives that was played at their wake and visitation.

The first one is this one of my mom.  How can you not smile when you see this photo?  I think it perfectly captures her playfulness that she allowed those close to her to see.  This is young Betty Lou Bucklin when she was around 6 years old or so.  She grew up in Hathaway, Louisiana, during the Great Depression and this left her being satisfied with whatever she had.  She didn’t desire anything grand or fancy.

She was the second of four daughters and they had a younger brother as well.  It was a simple life in the country.  Her grandparents had all come from different parts of the country (and one was from England) to homestead the prairie land in that area, so they didn’t really have much either.  But they had family and they enjoyed getting together and celebrating with music and festivities.

My mom had this photo on her dresser during her last years.  I don’t know of any story associated with it, but it must have been a photo that brought her fond memories of her childhood.  That’s one of the main reasons I like it so much, but it is a cute photo in it’s own right.

This next photo is one of my dad when he was probably a little bit older.  This is Robert Joseph Landry, Jr. when he was maybe 7 years old or so.  From what I can gather he was mostly called Bobbie at this point.  It’s what his siblings and cousins always called him.  He grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, during the Great Depression, but his family was larger with eight children.  He was one of four boys and four girls.

The main thing that strikes me about this photo is the brightness of his eyes.  Too bad it’s not a color photo, because he had pretty blue eyes.  Besides looking a bit inquisitive and intelligent, it also looks like he has a secret.  Usually that secret would be the punch line of his most recently discovered joke.  He always liked a good joke.  And of course they were not suggestive or dirty jokes.  Just something that would make him laugh, and he’d share them with others in hopes that they would enjoy them too.

So there you go.  My recollections of my parents this week.  Something to make you smile.  Though I have to admit that it brought a tear to my eyes writing this, because I do miss her impish smile and his hearty laugh.  Bittersweet is the appropriate word.