Mom

 She was blonde and beautiful. I see that when I look back at her pictures. When I was young I didn’t see her as pretty. After all, she was Mom. She always got a kick out of telling the story about me telling her, when I was a child, that she did pretty well with what she got. 
 
People thought she was pretty gorgeous and my dad used to get a little jealous but she was plagued by insecurity about her weight. 
 
True, she was overweight from time to time, but mostly she was a pretty normal 12-14. I don’t think she ever got bigger than an 18. 
 
She always wore "tastefully applied" make up. Mom was really into tasteful. Back in those days women were judged much more harshly about their looks. 
 
She had a great figure.  A generous bust line and proportioned waist assisted by those crazy girdles that women wore back then… long line bras and long line girdles. 
 
Always dressing attractively, Mom wore heels while hiking Boston’s Freedom Trail. I remember her stopping and leaning against a little wall telling me how much her feet hurt. 
 
"If you want beauty you have to endure some pain," she’d tell me as she combed out my long very-tangly hair. And, definitely, she put up with her share of that beauty-pain!
 
She taught me how to match up clothes and styles. She pointed out "well dressed" women and those who didn’t look so good. She fostered in me an artistic fascination with fashion but, rebel that I grew to be, I challenged the strict standards if dressing in that time and adopted the wearing of "granny dresses" as well as shunned bras and girdles. I threw my clothes all over my room and hung up very few outfits. (I still have that problem.) Part of me always secretly wished I could be as together as her but that just seemed to not be my talent. 
 
I created a DVD movie of Mom’s photos over the years. The love that Dad had for her flowed through his many, nearly professional quality photos and, wow, she was a great model. I did this right before her 90th birthday and, as I worked on it, I really contemplated how very lovely she was. With smooth unblemished skin and sparkling eyes, she made a gorgeous photo. Her confidence radiated through the lens.  She was so photogenic. To be honest, she looked better in my wedding pics than I did!  
 
<div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); “>It was that calm certain confidence that did it I think. Things like that come across in a picture.