Do You Have This Photo?

Yesterday I got an email from my mom's cousin, Julie, and the subject line simply read, "Do you have this photo?" Now that message in and of itself is not terribly unusual. Julie loves family history and now that her husband is retired and they have moved to Utah, she will periodically send me envelopes filled with treasures.

I tried to open her email on my phone, but for some reason, the picture wouldn't load, and since I was out and about, I didn't get back to it until evening when I was finally sitting in front of my computer. As I watched the image spring to life, my jaw dropped in surprise. It was a photo of my grandma and her husband (who was really my grandpa, but he passed away when my mom was a baby, so I sometimes forget that) on their wedding day. Actually, I'm assuming it is their wedding day since they are holding a wedding cake.

I could not ever remember seeing this particular picture before and I stared at it for several moments before calling my sweetie in to see it. This was not exactly a grandma I knew. This young woman would have been about the same age as Crafty and she seemed to have a rather shy smile (although it's arguable that it could be a devious smile if I knew grandma).

But she was not the one that captured my attention. It was my grandfather. I had seen pictures of him before, but not like this one. He looked young and happy and so incredibly like my brother that it was scary. It brought him to life for me like never before and I remembered how happy Grandma was to be sealed to this man she loved so much that had been gone for so many years.

They weren't married long, only about 3 years before he drowned in the canal. Grandpa had my mom who was only about 15 months old if I remember right and she was expecting another child that miscarried a few days after the funeral. Even though Grandma remarried and welcomed two children from her 2nd husband's previous union, she could never carry another child and she finally had a hysterectomy when she was around 39.

But on this day, this beautiful first wedding day, she couldn't have known what her future would hold. If she had, do you think she would she have chosen differently?