Looking happy

I like these two pictures together. The one of my grandmother isn’t dated but she looks very young to me, maybe the same age as my mother is in the next picture. Isn’t her dress amazing? I wish I could ask her about it – did she make it? Was it for a special occasion? What color was it? And in the photo it looks shiny, so I wonder what kind of fabric it’s made from.

I described this next picture to my mother and she remembered it immediately. She is not quite 15, and I love the way she seems to be so pleased with herself here. She said she was getting ready to start her sophomore year in high school, which startled me. I realized I’d never put it together that my mother was either one of the younger ones in her class or the older ones because her birthday is in September. As it turns out, she was one of the younger ones.