For some reason, this photo made me think of my mama.
She always loved that time of the evening, when the sun was almost gone from the sky, the quiet of evening was approaching.
Colors of the day became somewhat more muted, yet the sun would pick seemingly random spots to shine through.
She would take slow, rambling walks on our dirt road, ostensibly looking for nails to be picked up and tossed into the woods so no tires would be punctured, but also looking for flint chips, arrow heads and Pottery.
We lived in an area that had been the site of extensive generational Native American activities prior to the curse of the Europeans arrived.
Mama and I had a very close and special relationship.
(original image)
As a child, being in the woods I would sometimes get “red bugs” (most people know them as Chiggers) and they would be in rather awkward and intimate locations, that part was embarrassing not to mention painful.
second image source
As a Teen, when my body began to change and I'd get pimples and blackheads on my neck and shoulders (I could handle my face) I would sit on the floor between mama's feet, and she would pick my back and shoulders, very much like you see other primates picking lice off of each other.
Third image source
Mama's lap was a special place, in Summer when I was home from school during the day, but Daddy worked, at lunch he would come home, eat, then he and mama would go to the sofa, he would lay with his head in her lap and take a nap.
Fourth imagesource
(those are not my parents, but the image exemplifies what it was like for us)
Other times, I would do the same, but what I really like to do, was come into the room quietly, and find her sleeping on the sofa.
So peaceful, inhaling through her nose, and out through her mouth, which caused her to make a little “pooh” sound.
Unutterably cute, it makes my heart swell at the memory of it.
by
Jerry E Smith
©07/17/2021
Images original or sourced
