Dear Mom e-Letter

Volume 2, Issue 8
Old Photos
July 2007

Dear Reader,

One of life’s hardest passages for me has been my daughters’ weddings without my parents.

I didn’t expect Mom to be at Kelsey’s wedding in Cheyenne on Memorial Weekend.  She wasn’t at Jessica’s wedding five years ago either, having died in 1990.  But I sure seemed to expect my dad to be there.

Dad loved Jessica’s Black Hills wedding—the gardens, the mountains, the music, the people.  He would have loved Kelsey’s wedding, too, especially the groom’s dinner on the historic Wyoming Hereford Ranch.

We gathered at the ranch wearing cowboy hats, boots and jeans to enjoy a milk can dinner and dance.  Dad would have laughed over dinner cooked in a container he used to haul milk to the Roslyn Creamery in the 50s and 60s.

Kelsey’s wedding was the first big event of my life without either parent present.  But Dad was there in the power point presentation. Dad with Kelsey.  Dad holding Kelsey,  Mom and Dad holding Kelsey, Dad with Kelsey and me.  At the ripe old age of 22, those were Kelsey’s “old photos,” chosen with love to share life’s journey with wedding guests, and they helped her get through a very important day without the grandpa who loved her so very much.

I most miss Mom and Dad at big events like my daughter’s wedding.  I think of them and wonder what they would say.  Mom would have loved the flowers—white calla lilies—and would have been in awe of Kelsey’s dress.  Dad would have loved the Hereford Ranch and the gardens.

On my drive home from the wedding, I called my brother.  We talked about the wedding.  When Rick said Kelsey was really beautiful, I knew instantly what Dad would have said.  “Kelsey, you are as beautiful as my bride on our wedding day.”

And I would have the old photos to prove it.

What are some of your favorite “old photos?”  Your parents wedding?  Your wedding?   I hope you take the time to share them with your kids and grandkids.  Old photos ground us in who we are, where we came from, and the people that have really helped make our journey wonderful. 

Dee Dee