Long-Long Time Ago

I took this picture of  my paternal Grandmother about 40 years ago at Williamsburg, Virginia.  After my grandfather died in 1976, she and I traveled a fair bit in the eastern part of the United States.  She and my grandfather had spent 25 winters in Florida.  Always driving the most efficient route, and never stopping between point A and point B, except to eat, put gas the car and sleep overnight.  She wanted to take the slow roads, and stop where ever something looked interesting.  So we did.  

This would have been taken with a Cannon F-1, with probably a 50mm f1.4 lens, using a Kodak professional color negative film.  I would have had at least two other lenses with me, a 28mm f2.8 and a 135mm f3.5.  There might have been a 200mm, and a 100 to 200mm zoom in the bag.  Later when I had a chance I added a couple more lenses and a motorized body to the bag.  Oh, yes I was camera crazy.  There are three digital cameras on my desk, some things never change.  

She has been gone about 21 years, she died right around tax day. Nearly to the end her mind stayed sharp, her hearing, eyesight and mobility failed after she was in her 80's.  She voluntarily moved to assisted living about 5 years before she died. She stayed there until the last three weeks.  

She was my grandmother, and my best friend.  I learned a lot from her.  Late in life, she shared with me family secrets and talked about things she had never talked about.  Her family had tickets for the Titanic, her sister got sick and they were advised to wait a few days and take the next ship.  She arrived in New York as the empty lifeboats from Titanic were being unloaded at the pier, that experience haunted her.  Her younger sister had a child out of wedlock and that was left at the hospital for adoption - no one in the family talked about it, her sister died of chronic alcoholism - I have sometimes wondered if the family had talked about it, if Floss might have been able to cope with life without booze. After my grandfather died, my grandmother went out on two dates.  She said it felt good to feel desirable, but she felt like it was cheating on my grandfather and broke it off.   

Tell us about a special relationship you had with a family member or friend.