Flashback Fridays vol.13

This is my Dad's maternal Grandma, Telcede Clouatre. (My Mom may need to correct me on my spelling of these cajun french names in the family.) My Great Grandma.  I am to the left in the immodest halter top(according to Erin, and me too!), my little brother Neal is in the middle, and my sister Daniela is on the right.  Looking back at this picture makes me think of how much my kids look like me and my siblings when we were little.  :)  I think I like that. They behave in some of the same ways too!  I think a healthy portion of that can be contributed to birth order!  At any rate, this has been one of my favorite pictures over the years.  I don't have many personal memories of Maw Maw "Seed".  I remember playing at her house, picking figs off the tree in her back yard, and I vaguely remember when she passed away.  Most of my memories of her have come through the prism and memories of my paternal grandma, Granny as we called her, and what she has taught me. 

I look forward to the day when I can become friends with my ancestors, and to make my own memories with them.  I have certainly learned to love them as I have learned about them and the lives they lived.  My great grandparents and grandparents lived in different times.  They did things different.  They learned to get by  before medical advances were what they are today, before central air, before modern conveniences, and  before the world I live in now even existed.  I always giggle to hear some of the home remedies they used to cure various things. Did you know that if you swallow a few drops of turpentine that you can cure a sore throat, pouring kerosene on an open wound will make it stop bleeding, and that potatoes make warts disappear?  Very interesting.  I can't say that I would try these things, in fact I would never try these things, but they certainly illustrate how times have changed.

I have learned many things sitting at the feet of my grandparents, words of wisdom acquired through hard work, trials, sickness, death, joys, and triumphs.  Sometimes to look to the future, we need to look to the past.  Not as a place to linger and neglect our present day cares, but as a place of strength, of learning, of courage, and of peace.  I find tremendous peace in knowing that others, particularly in my family, have walked this earth, played the hand they were dealt, and lived in a way to provide me with great examples of enduring well.  I am the better for it.  They inspire me to take my place in history and to create a life that inspires my family, hopefully in a positive way, for generations to come!