This is the only portrait I've ever seen of my Grandma Johnson, dated September 13, 1946, which was my father's first birthday. I love the romantic idea that she had a portrait taken to honor that day and show her love. Looking back, I think my Grandparents had a complex relationship. Even today some family members have told me they should not have been married, but Grandpa was not going to leave his son, as his father had done to him. Maybe they weren't the perfect match, but I think they are an example of how love is a choice. Marriage is work and you grow in love. The head in the clouds feelings disappear, but as you grow in love, the feelings are deeper and richer with the patina of time.
This picture always makes me chuckle. It has been repaired in photoshop elements, but in the original there is a tear the entired length of the left hand side. Grandma "fixed" it with old fashioned Scotch tape that yellowed and aged. Apparently at some point in time she and Grandpa had an argument and in her temper (it was quick and hot!) she picked up the picture and tore it! I know it was just a gesture because she only tore it on the left hand side, not through her face, so the picture was "saved".
Grandma was quite a character and my first best friend. Her life ended in a long battle with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. You can read my tribute to her battle here on my old blog.
Dorothy Lucille Larimore Johnson January 2, 1920 to July 16, 1987.
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