We found a cookbook in which Mom stored almost all of her old driver’s license or ID photos.
So, I bring you
Thirty-two years of Mom
Since obviously she was keeping them so I could step back and prepare myself.
Below: Thirty-two, just divorced. HAPPY smile.
A ten year jump to 42. I am not to blame for this photo. Mom experiments with not smiling.
Two years later the smile was back
In 1985 Drivers License Photo Technology takes a big leap forward. Mom is 49. I’m currently 47. Evidently in the next two years my chin will tighten up and my eyes will get bigger. Awesome!
At 52. Not smiling has become a requirement. I think this is the year Dad died and Mom retired.
According to the license Mom weighs 110 below. So 53 will be a big weight loss year.
Fifty six.
Finally, at 56, Mom begins to resemble me at 47. Smiles are back! Chins are also back. Mom also discovers a way she can style her own hair, even though she can’t raise her arms over her waist. Oh, and I can’t wait until those glasses are back in style.
Here she is in 1995, at 59.
At 62, you will notice Mom has made a major fashion adjustment. After decades of dressing to hide her tracheotomy scar, she decides her wattle sort of drapes over it and she doesn’t need to hide it with high collars. Right now I’m tempted to send this photo to work and combine it with my current face, so I can desensitize Gary for his future.
And here she is in 01, at 65, wearing my shirt.
Of course, she died at 71, but she didn’t drive the last few years.
But here, just for you, an extra bonus cartoon she saved!
15 responses to “More From Mom On the Other Side”
That is soooo cool. I just went and got my new license and they kept the old one. This made me wish I had kept it so I could hide it for my kids.
Your mom is lovely.
I wish I had my old license, too. It was taken two days after my wedding and I still had my magic bride beauty sprinkles. Best picture on a license ever.
56 seems to be the only year that your mother didn’t have a hair spray addiction, but yes, I can totally see the resemblance. I can imagine that’s really bitter-sweet, seeing how much a part of you she is.
Another gift from beyond the grave! What a treat for you – and interesting for us, to scroll quickly down and see her change before our eyes. The age 56 picture is not like the others, though – what’s going on there?How I wish Gary Larson were still cartooning.
My fave is still the one of her on her throne. Vivat Mater Regina!
Let her shit go. Why do you torture yourself this way? Your mother was a beautiful woman and I love her sense of humor.
Surprising Woman – I suppose we could just take photos of faces with our digital camera for the same purpose. It makes me think of that 7-up documentary.Sherri – I had a spectacular one once too, and I kept that bad boy for years. Think it’s gone now.Tami – Oh yes, and it had to be the BIG can of Aqua Net, because then she could fling her arm on top, get it going, then duck her head under the spray. Big Dot – That wasn’t for work or car. It was for membership in Sams Club. (An exclusive club for suburbanites who can use up bulk amounts of food and toilet paper.) I was next in line to get my photo taken. Becs – Vivat! http://mocklog.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/img_0244.jpgHot Mom – This wasn’t torture! I liked it. And, damn she WAS cute in that first photo. I never saw her that way in color photos unless she was pregnant.
I’m sorry – did you say… “Vivat!”?
Huh! You continue to surprise me.
I love that they were all in a cookbook.
The GL cartoon is the best! So sweet to see that!
I recently found one I had cut from Good Housekeeping or something that had a husband and wife siting back to back,turning over their shoulders to say, “I forget, are you not talking to me or am I not talking to you?”
…and then I burst out crying. Like usual.
Still funny though.
Tami- No, I just quoted Becs, above. I assume she was right because she is Becs.Gaoo – Commence crying all night. I’m in the stage when I can work up a good cry if I feel like it, but it doesn’t take me by surprise. I’m so sorry, though.
She had a lovely smile, and that is my FAVORITE Far Side of all time!
Velocibadgergirl – my fave is “School for the gifted.”
I like the cows and the ringing phone and “Well, there it goes again.. And we just sit here without opposable thumbs.”
It was a dark day for me when the daily calendar people decided they’d exhausted the Far Side archive.
Big Dot – Wait! That’s not right. It’s a new generation. That’s like if Sony didn’t publish any of the Beatles music on iTunes!