This old photo is pretty faded and scratched but the main reason I chose to share it with you on Mother’s Day is that it’s a rare one showing together in a row three generations of women in my family who were mothers to me – Mum, Nanna Francesca and Great-Granny Maddalena.
I’m showing my age here but some may know what this photo is about – taken on the day of my Holy Communion. (I’m not sure kids would dress like this now but we did then, 40+ years ago!!) 😊 This is at my parents’ Red Hill worker’s cottage in Brisbane and the rest of the relatives joined us afterwards for a big lunch at trestle tables underneath the house.
For me, looking at this photo it’s great to see the old picket fence, the pawpaw trees and that the Hills Hoist again made its way into one of our family photos, this time with pegs! And I love Nanna and Granny’s handbags and Dad’s 1970s style suit.
Most of all, I feel fortunate to have had behind me, in every sense of those words, these three strong, beautiful women, all feisty, all characters, and all who gave me so much in the time I had with them. (Grandma Lorna too, Mum’s mum, another strong woman in my life, who happily made this dress for me, though she wasn’t Catholic.) I’m so grateful for them all, Dad and Nonno Anni too. And while it has been such a very long time since I’ve been able to share a Mother’s day with any of them, each year I think of them all with much love. Grazie di cuore. ❤️ Zoe xx
Thinking of all those volunteering and working over this time when many get to take a break. It still amazes me how my grandparents opened their milk bar and fruit shop 7 days a week from early morning ‘til late at night with only two days a year off – for 20 years straight! And then ‘scaled back’ to 5 days a week for the following years.
…small moments of beauty.
Came across this in an old, cardboard box of photographs of my grandmother’s:
Zoë Boccabella 