This was my Gram Toni's (my dad's mom) favourite picture of herself. As the caption says, it was taken in 1925 when she was 16 years old. It was taken in front of our family house on Nevada Ave. in East L.A., where Gram Toni and her sister were raised, my dad and his sister were raised, and my brother and I were raised. I'm not sure who the car belonged to -- it has Colorado plates, which doesn't help because I don't know of anyone in our family who lived in Colorado.Gram Toni died in 2002 at the age of 91. She would have been 98 years old today. She was warm and friendly and devout. She is the source of all my stories about my ancestors on my dad's side of the family. But as I consider her life I think it may have been a really hard and lonely one. I feel bad about that and wish I could have done more. She was always so sweet to me.
She would have never told me this, but I like to imagine this was her favourite picture of herself because it is such an image of freedom. A young girl behind the wheel of a hot car. She could have gone anywhere. She could have torn out of East L.A. and never looked back. But she didn't. Her sister did, but she didn't.
so beautiful and sad. such a good lesson about i believe she is finally free to be who she wanted and needed to be..and maybe that is a speed car racer!
ReplyDeletewendyxo
Great post, Aaron. Knowing a little about your dad's side of the family, maybe that really WAS a "hot" car! (your grandfather and all..) And it's true, Gram Toni wasn't really of the generation to flee, although her sister did, she was unusual in that way. Thanks for the memory..
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