I slept poorly last night. I suspect it’s because I have an appointment over in the Big(ger) CityTM this morning, an appointment I (a) don’t want to miss because it’s (b) very important business. Which tends to make sleep fitful. Put aside the fact I’m completely prepared, which is to say all the necessary documentation has long been retrieved from the archives and put in a conspicuous place to be picked up as I walk out the door. Strangely enough, all the documentation…my birth certificate, DD Forms 214 from each and every enlistment, check book…was exactly where it should have been. There were no frantic searches, no missing yet required pieces of paper, nothing. Preparation, such as it was, was a piece of cake. So why didn’t I sleep well?
Deep psychological issues, I fear. My appointment today signals one of the transitions to life’s end-game. I’m about to officially enter geezerhood.
I’m applying for Social Security.
Today’s Pic: From the archives of another sort. This is my Mom at (I’m guessing) age ten or so, which would date the photo from about 1935. Late in our marriage The Second Mrs. Pennington launched a project to scan old family photos; she completed about ten percent of what were in the archives before she went off to do bigger and better things.
Quite the costume Mom's wearing, ain't it? One wonders what the occasion and its associated back-story were. I'm thinking "dance school." All proper young ladies in that place (Atlanta) and time (early twentieth century) simply had to be schooled the arts, nu? And she was that. A great dancer!
And now... off to the Big(ger) CityTM !
Great pic! I love old pictures. We got out a lot of them and made mom a new photo album for her 80th birthday party. My brother was able to scan and restore the picture on a lot of photos that were so faded you could barely see them. So I'm a big fan of scanning and preserving those memories.
ReplyDeleteWhat Laurie said.
ReplyDeleteAnd good luck with your big day, Buck! Congratulations! Think of all those years you put money into it and feel content. You did your job!
Grr, now I can add you to the list of "people eating up my SS contributions." :-p
ReplyDeleteActually, that reminds me of a funny tax story...my dad was doing my taxes for this year, and I made $72 over the minimum for paying income tax, which means I had to write out a $4 to the lovely IRS. Grr again.
Seriously though, what bec said. Take this as validation of your right to, in the words of Peter Gibbons, "relax... sit on my ass all day...do nothing."
Wow, Laurie...I'm sure I've said this before, but your Mom and my Mom are about the same age. Or would be, had my Mom not died at an early age. And I agree with you on the old pictures. I only wish TSMP had hung around until her project was completed. :-)
ReplyDeleteBec: I used to say I wanted to live just long enough to get all that money I put into Social Security back. I wanna live a lot longer than that, now. Funny how time changes one's perspective, eh?
Mike: Your "grrr" factor is gonna increase by an order of magnitude when you read my latest post. And you can't really be angry at a ten-year-old, can you? :-)
I've written a five dollar check to the IRS before. Last year, in fact. The b@$tard$ get every single penny they're owed, don't they? To quote you: GRRR!
Forgot to ask, Mike: Why did you turn off the comments on your blog? Getting lotsa spam (which I never saw) or something else? I was gonna drop a comment at your place this morning, but the Comments are gone!
ReplyDeleteI love the picture. I would bet it was a dance recital. She is just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBuck, I'd recommend hitting refresh when that happens. Sometimes Haloscan just doesn't load up for some reason. If hitting refresh doesn't immediately work, give it a minute or five and come back, they should work fine. They're up now, so I think it was just Haloscan's gremlins.
ReplyDeleteMike sez: I'd recommend hitting refresh when that happens.
ReplyDeleteNoted. And I damned well should have tried that. It's not like I don't know to hit refresh when something doesn't work on a web page, it's just that I never seem to remember to do that. {Sigh} It's all because of my naive faith in technology, I suppose...
I've done the archive scan for my hubby's family. Spent 6 months scanning photos - and barely scratched the surface. Then put together a 6 chapter DVD starting with his parents as children, moving right up to the previous Christmas - animation, music, etc... Gave it to his family as a Christmas gift in 2005. We restored old photos to reveal details that had been lost to time; we learned about family members the hubby had never known existed - it was a labor of love and it is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteKris said: I've done the archive scan for my hubby's family.
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing more and more people talk about doing this, and I believe it's a great good thing. Our personal histories benefit, as does the culture at large. And the current generation of kids is going to be the most well-documented and most-photographed generation ever, what with digital cameras and camcorders being everywhere. Another great good thing.
Good on ya, Kris...and Laurie, too!