Wow Mary, what a great story! What a wonderful Mother's Day story.
Rosemarie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Bordi" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 4:09 PM
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] A Mothers Day Surprise
When I walked in the door at Mom's on Mothers Day I found her in a bit
of a tizzy. She is 92 and lives alone (with the help of a lady who
comes in for a few hours daily). Mom thought someone had done
something (to put it charitably) with one of her jewelry boxes. After
searching around a little I located the missing box and we looked over
the contents and she decided that everything was there.
We both decided that it wasn't the monetary value of the items so much
as the sentimental value that would have been the loss if they had
turned up missing. (Not to mention the thought that someone might have
taken them.)
We were very happy that all was well, but this prompted her to have me
go through her trunk of "old stuff". This is of note for this group--
you'll see! We found my grandmother's wedding dress that had been cut
up and used to make Mom's first communion dress. (My grandmother is
the one whose parents were from the Azores.) Also, my grandmother had
kept HER mother's purse just as it was the day she died. Great
grandmother was the one from the Azores. She had died suddenly from a
heart attach just days after my mom's wedding--in fact Mom and Dad had
come back early from their honeymoon because of this. The purse
contained a gold compact of rouge, a pocket knife, a sweepstakes
ticket and, in the bottom, grains of rice from the wedding.
We have retained the tradition in our family of keeping the purse or
wallet of someone who died. It is a glimpse into their personality for
future generations. I never knew my great grandmother but feel closer
to her by seeing what she kept in her purse.
The prize of the day, however, was the photo album. I could remember
seeing an album of studio portraits Portuguese people (presumably
relatives or friends) but had not seen it since becoming interested in
my Azorean roots. Here were labeled pictures of cousins that I had
recently tracked down on the census! Mom gave me the album for safe
keeping and research. Now I can compare the picture of my great
grandmother's sister with unlabeled pictures in another photo album! I
thought I would never know what these family members looked like!
Mom and I both had a wonderful Mothers Day!
Happy hunting all...
Mary Bordi
--
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions
when they arrive.
For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail
(vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right
that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
--
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when
they arrive.
For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into
your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the
blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my
membership."
