Mom's Old Photos - 2nd Half Text Plus Full Audio

Here's the deal, folks... This is, as indicated, the 2nd HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece had to be posted in 2 parts. The 1st HALF can be accessed, of course, by going to - "Poems by Mark Stellinga" - on the Soup. Sorry for the inconvenience... Thanks for reading, or listening, or both...whatever the case may be - Cheers, Mark One other aspect of viewing the pictures we loved was the heartwarming way, (Along with the year that the photo was taken, and often times even the day), She’d added descriptions…and we were enchanted by some of the things they would say. Like: “Orville and Rose, in their three dollar buggy.” She’d dated it 1904. “Carl - with his Harley - at Pinkerton Conoco. Mr. Kinkaid in the door.” “John, in his uniform. Last one I got…on the day that he left for the war.” “First summer dress.” was the caption she’d scribbled on back of a shot that was great. Barefoot and pig-tailed and beaming with pride, as she posed on an old wooden crate. “First time on roller skates. Notice my knees.” October, oh-six was the date. One of the biggest (which should have been framed), showed her posing on stage, at the prom! Right under that was a shot of her holding her very first grandson: our Tom! That one was tagged, “April 12th, ’62”…and a terribly good one of Mom. One showed her helping her mother pick beans - in the garden beside the garage! Another was captioned, “Laverl - on his birthday - all smiles in his thirty-eight Dodge.” The next one I grabbed was of me…in my uniform…leaving for Beaver Dam Lodge. Scouting was fun, and it taught me a lot that - without it - I’d never have learned. The next made me chuckle, “What corny old swim suits. No wonder they never got burned.” The next was of me helping Dad scoop up corn, from a wagon he’d just overturned! “You’ve got to be kidding,” Mel busted a gut, as she handed a picture my way. “Hard to believe what the women were doing with hairstyles back in her day. A picture like this one, for me, makes it easy to see why she’d hide them away!” The next one was taken the morning that Dad - after trying his best to refute her - Fin’ly gave in and sat down at Mom’s desk, and attempted to use her computer! He’d fought her like hell, and had vowed if she didn’t stop ‘riding his butt’ - he would shoot her, But ten minutes later…with Mom’s and my help…his eyeballs were glued to the screen, And what - for so long was a stubborn old whiner - had morphed to a mesmerized teen, And I can still hear him fin’ly admitting, ‘You’re right…this is quite a machine!’” Then came a great one of Mom and Aunt Nellie at what - I would guess - was a dance. Prob’ly a sock hop, with what they were wearing. Aunt Nell was in corduroy pants! Mother once said she adored Fred Astaire…and would kiss him if given the chance! The next was of Dad - helping Mom mount a horse. “I believe this is grandfather’s farm,” I remarked, “and she’s written...‘A gentleman always - so handsome, and loaded with charm. And to prove that he loved me, he had my initials tattooed on the side of his arm!’” Here, once again, was a cute little couplet. A sample of Mom in her prime. She loved to write verse, as I mentioned before, and I’m sure, if she’d taken the time, Could have conveyed the great love in her heart that she had for her fam’ly - in rhyme! The next was a dandy of Mom at the picnic last summer in Cedarwood Park. She loved to identify birds by their calls…and species of trees by their bark. That was the day that I mangled my finger while changing a tire in the dark. Fin’ly, at noon, we were parsing the last, and Mel nodded yes when I said, “This one, I think, we should take in for copies.” Its caption didn’t need to be read. Taken the morning that Dad had his seizure…by seven that night - he was dead. Sorted, at last, by their looks and their captions - as close as we possibly could We went through each pile and selected the ones that we felt were especially good, And talked about who might be anxious to see them. We both knew that Tommy sure would. We feel it’s cool that - with each generation - evolves their particular “look.” And I’m here to tell you that albums of photos are truly - ‘our lives in a book', But, had we not found them we’d still have remembered...without all the mem’ries she took. Mom did so terribly much for our family. And though it’s been said many times, Mothers can never be fully repaid, especially with nickels and dimes. But now that she’s living in heaven and certainly whipping up cute little rhymes, She is delighted, no doubt, that the photos she meant for her children to find Are garnering laughter, and tears now and then…exactly as she had in mind Whenever she took one, so wisely aware that - at some point - she’d leave them behind. PS: I've now got 4 new Audio-CDs - @ 4 1/2 hours each = (62 diversely varied pieces). They’re listed on EBAY - under - “Mark Stellinga Poetry” - or available by simply contacting me at -- mark@writerofbooks.com -- should those of you who enjoy listening to poems as well as reading them - and particularly those of you that travel - care to be so entertained. (We use safe and simple - PayPal) Cheers, Mark