Father, Daughter

We’ve not seen one of my aunts for several years. No big story, no big fall-out, just one of those things. She’s burst back into our lives now with the love and liveliness that she has always possessed in spades, and with her latest visit, she has come bearing photos. My dad has no pictures of his parents, so she’s passed a stack of them on to him, along with various photos of all of us from many years ago. I’d not seen any of them before, so I really enjoyed looking through them. This one stood out to me..

DadandI

Please excuse the quality, and the somewhat dodgy perm that my father is sporting – it was the early 80’s, in his defence!

Now, my mum has loads and loads of photos of us as children, as you’d imagine. But, though I’d not noticed this before, there are very few of us actually with our parents. I guess they were usually behind the camera, but with my aunt’s snaps, she was. There are even less shots of my dad and I, as he was often working. This one really drew me in, as I’d guess that I’m the same age there as Boo is now, and she does bear quite a resemblance to me.

It got me thinking. It made me realise that my dad was to me as we are now to Boo. Obvious, right, but not something I’d really thought about. I don’t think that you can possibly appreciate the gamut of emotions that your parents went through (and I’m sure still go through!) by loving you, until you become a parent yourself. I look at this photo and I know just how he feels about me right there, as it’s how I feel about my daughter right now. I look at this photo and feel it as a daughter and as a parent in equal measures. I look at this photo and I am small again, and happy and safe in my dad’s arms. I look at this photo and I remember that Boo, though seeming so old and wise to me some days, it still so young and my little baby. I look at this photo and I smile.

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47 thoughts on “Father, Daughter”

  1. What a fabulous post Jocelyn, beautifully written. I love that photo too, just adorable. I had to smile at the perm as I had one in the Eighties too! Great post, thank you so much for sharing #whatsthestory

  2. Brilliant photo – it’s so nice to get some childhood photos. I was so pleased when we got photos of my husband’s late father, who I never knew. You make a good point about the relationship between parents and children – I think it is hard for us to realise that our parents loved us as deeply as we love our own children.

  3. A lovely photo and a beautiful post =] I shall be making sure we take more family photos now after reading this, as normally i take photos of just Erin doing something. Its great looking at old photos and also other members of the families photos for a different perspective =] i’ll be digging my old photos out later! Love abit of reminiscing xxx

  4. Pingback: PODcast | What's The Story ? | 25th November 2013

  5. It looks like your dad was a bit of a body builder Jocelyn! What a lovely thing for your aunt to bring with her. I know what you mean about having loads of pictures of the kids but not many of us all together – I had to spend some time trying to find the right pictures for my family post because I seem to have taken so few with my boys and my mum and dad together or all of us with my sister’s family too.

    1. He’s still at the gym most nights now! Yes, I’m trying to get photos of us all, but it’s usually just the kids or the kids and their dad, as I like to have the camera! Must try harder..!

  6. Aww lovely piccy of you both! I love looking at old family photos! For my mums 60th a few years back I sorted out all of our family photos and scanned hundreds of them in so they are now all on the computer, lovely to be able to go and have a look through them whenever We like 🙂 i made mum a special album too 🙂 i know what you mean about becoming a parent and really understanding what it was like for our parents. You really cant understand it until you’re a parent yourself can you! Xx

    1. Oh, that is lovely. Must be great to have, though time consuming to do at the time! Yes, as a parent we better understand ours x

  7. I love looking back at family pictures and thinking they were just starting off without a clue just like us now. I don’t like to think that I thought they were “very old” though as that means I am now “very old” too ha. Great post x #themegame

  8. I do love old photographs. It’s especially nice and slightly odd too, when you see photo’s of yourself the same age as your children are. My mum has a few on her walls and I can’t correlate them with my two sometimes if that makes sense?

  9. Oh my goodness, Boo is your double!! You can totally tell that you and I are similar in age too, as I’ve an almost identical photo with my dad, and both he and I have pretty much matching haircuts to you and yours 😉 A gorgeous post Jocelyn, it made me very nostalgic! Xx

    1. Ha ha – the haircuts can date us like that! I do think Boo looks a lot like me in this photo, too. Thank you x

  10. What a wonderful post and a classic picture. Both my parents worked for our local newspaper – so I have photos of Daddy holding me right after I came home from the hospital taken by the news photographer. Mine are all black and white and Daddy has an Elvis thing going on with his hair! Mom looks straight out of I Love Lucy – dressed up, red lipstick and sprayed hair. Thanks for sharing.

  11. I love old photos. I remember when I started researching the family tree I made my Mum hand hers over so I could scan some…she’s sentimental like me but not as attached to photographic memories so she’d never bothered to put them in albums or anything, they were mostly still in Boots The Chemist envelopes complete with negatives!

  12. How very lovely, it’s so nice that you have such a close knit family. The photo is fab, 80’s snaps are the best! You’re right, Boo is looking a lot like you do there 🙂

  13. Great photo of you and your dad. There is nothing quite like being given old photos you have not seen before. Best present! x Mel

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