My mother has been downsizing for years. The family photographs made the trip from Pennsylvania to Florida in the early 1990s. Then they moved from the big condo to a smaller Independent living apartment. Every time I visited, Mom would say there were lots of photographs I needed to look at and start taking back to my home in Missouri. I did that, but Mom’s latest move to assisted living meant nearly all the pictures were coming to my home. There is much curating to be done.

One of my favorites family portraits is this one taken at the shore during the summer of 1952. I was born January 1, 1953, so Mom was already pregnant but not really showing.

Mother had a few serious boyfriends in college, but her father insisted, among other things, that she finish college before marrying. Back then my grandfather also frowned on Catholic boys as future son-in-laws.
So mom graduated from Gettysburg College and returned to her hometown to teach school. My father was a mason, which suited my grandfather just fine. My mother and father married the summer of 1950.

By the summer of 1960, my mother left my father with two young children in tow. This image is one of my favorites of them because it’s the summer of 1952 and she is pregnant with me! Their marriage was still new and filled with promise. ~shared by Zoe Smith