Happy Veterans' Day! More on that below. This is also my grandmother's birthday. She was a stylish lady, and you can see all the things of her that I inherited and incorporate in my wardrobe at this link. She would have been 93 -- if shitty Alzheimers hadn't taken its toll when it did. Anyway, on a happier note: Last year I recreated this beautiful picture of her from the late 40s. I'd say the pictures are six and half decades apart in time taken, but I know the location of the photos are under a mile. Someone has lived in my area of Boston since the early 1900s. I'm the only one of the cousins and second cousins and aunts, etc, who is still here. Isn't it weird how my hands are exactly the same as my nana's? Which is funny because I use these hands to show off how I inherited her proclivity for accessorizing, cooking, crafting and excellent fashion sense (if I do say so myself.) I also inherited her love for television mysteries (love yah Jessica Fletcher!), reading, zany humor and extreme extroversion. Sadly, I did not inherit her ability to meet and marry the best guy ever. =sigh= Not yet, at least.
And a Happy Veterans' Day to the Veterans of the world including my father, my grandfathers, many uncles, lots of friends, and my current and former students and their parents. I cringe at empty platitude and want to say something more meaningful than "thank for your" etc etc. I want to say, you did something a lot of people wouldn't do and I appreciate that. Having a Marine Corp Viet Nam War Veteran father made me an anti-gun pacificist. He instilled that in me, after what he endured. He also was adamant that the legacy of people in my family joining military ended with him. And he was very proud that I was a college graduate, and, though he only made it as far as my first year of grad school and didn't make it to see me finish, a Master's degree recepient. I have a complicated relationship with the United States Military. I hate war, but I hate evil. I don't know what the answer is and it isn't for this space, which I keep to mostly being a fun and light entertainment site, to figure it out. But I didn't want to go without saying something in honor of veterans.
It's the birthday of some other family friends who are dear, some still here, some passed away. Ed and Yaya are grandfather and granddaughter -- happy brithday to them. And it is also the brithday of my best friend Jenny's mother, Robyn, who passed away a few months befor emy father did. Robyn was the sweetest, cutest, prettiest most loving lady. She is greatly missed.
This, Daylight Savings, and bare tree branches are what make Thanksgiving such a bummer for me. But that's why it's good to have fun outlets, like a style blog!