I added this new photograph to Creative Journey in my Photography section, All That Remains
theme this week:"Body Parts"
Granted, this isn't what I first thought of photographing when I looked at this week's theme. I thought ... beautiful lips ... an exquisite shoulder ... the hands of the elderly ... the eye of a loved one.
But most of the other photographers thought the same thing, and have executed some spectacular images. Be sure to look!
So I went looking through my family photo albums for ideas. There are images of my daughters' big days: birthdays, graduations, Miss Teen Idaho, prom, talent shows and musical performances ... and then the funerals.
That's when this idea seeped into my sleepy brain. The grave of my first husband, Albert.
I was only married to him for three years. We bore two children. But the depression, suicide attempts and alcohol got the best of him. The kids were so young when he died ... "the last day of first grade," Jeanne always remembers.
Unbelieveable. Almost 15 years now. And the body parts that remain, lie here.
I used to take Jeanne and Julie up to the grave at least once a year in June ...
the month he was born
the month of Father's Day
the month he died
Now, they go visit on their own ... and try to understand why he gave up on them when they were so little.
After Jodie was born, she'd accompany us on these annual visits, not really understanding, full of life, dancing and spinning on the graves. Albert is just a family story to her.
And the body parts that I once knew so intimately lie in the ground, buried with all the troubled memories.
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