When DD was born, I was newly-divorced and living with my parents in a house that they rented. We were happy there for almost two years, and then an old college friend invited me to move to Tulsa and tend her daughter for the summer and possibly think about staying. We went, but we didn't stay. When we came back, the people who owned the house my parents were in, sold it. And the house that they found wasn't big enough for us to re-join them. So we found a basement apartment in the same neighbourhood and moved in. I loved that house. It had the Most Hideous carpeting and paneling, but it was warm in the winter and not too hot in the summer. The basement portion was actually older than the upstairs portion as it had originally been a basement house. The upstairs had been added about 20 years later. Of course, when the Teton Dam burst in 1976, it was filled to the top with water and mud. Some of the original beautiful oak paneling was damaged and unsalvageable, and it was replaced with far inferior stuff. It was fairly dark, what with the chocolate-brown carpet and all, but I still loved that house. We were there for six years and would probably still be there, except . . . . .
We were asked to vacate because the landlords had a grandson who had just gotten married and he wanted to live in my house. So we moved. I was (and still am) so sad about that. I have to pass that house every time I go to my folks' place and I still cry, even though it was five years ago that we left. Eventually the landlords bought a house a couple of blocks away, and have turned the whole property over to the grandson. It has gone very far downhill and it is so sad.
But about the photo: I worked at the fabric counter at WalMart and I got that lace there. I had enough to make curtains for both sets of windows in my bedroom. Being a basement house, the windows were quite short so I was able to make the most of the small amount of fabric I had. I liked the fact that it was quite a thick pattern, and although it let light in, you really couldn't see into the house. I would lay on my bed and read, with the curtains wafting in the breeze and watching the light play across the fabric. And one day, I just grabbed the camera and popped off two shots. This is the better of the two, although they are both nice. I took it on real film, not digital, and when I first got my scanner, this is one of the first images I scanned.
4 comments:
Ah, basement apartments. We lived in one in Provo when Firstborn was born. And there was a forsythia bush outside the kitchen window. I loved to look up through the branches on a foggy morning while I did the dishes. The grey mist, the black wet wood, and the brilliant yellow flowers. Good times!
amazing how a picture can bring back everything more than a thousand words
Lovely, sad, and sweet. Thank you.
i love you mom. we made it through, just you and me! i know you gave 110% into making things work for us. you're amazing and loved me so much that you didn't give up when things got hard and when times were sad. there were tons of happy moments too and i love who i've become because of you and everything you've done for me and still do for me. i finally understand that you weren't ever a bad parent, you tried your hardest to be both parents and make sure that we could live comfortably and i never felt sad because we didn't have enough money, not ever. i'm proud that you, carmel, are my mom. and i'm proud of you for never giving up. it was worth it, because i'm forever grateful to my selfless mom that gave me life and raised me on her own. i'm so happy you found mike, and i'm glad you'll never have to go at life without a partner again. i'm sorry i wasn't understanding when i was younger and i'm so sorry for being so mean to you. i wish i had understood then what i do now, because you never deserved for me to treat you badly. i love you mom. i love all that we've gone through. thank you mommy!
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