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mum + a fish / on my dad’s bedside table
for as long as i can remember, this photo of my mother has been on my dad’s bedside table. the frame has changed a time or two. the fresh flowers are, naturally, different every week. but it’s always been her. a big smile, collar up, pink polo argyle sweater, sunglasses on croakies. that’s what preppy looked like before people adopted it as an aspirational style. it was purely the time period. it was the early 90’s.
when my parents moved from the house we grew up in, they reshuffled things a bit. revised their style. but the picture remained firmly planted next to his side of the bed.
now, it’s still there. just moved west into the mountains from lake forest. she wouldn’t be caught dead w/ her collar like that now. she still loves pink but i haven’t seen her sport argyle since… well, the 90’s. there have been multiple pairs of sunglasses since those. because teenage daughters tend to “borrow” them + life moves too fast to keep track.
her eyes still squint when she really smiles. she’s still the woman w/ the fish.
it’s because that’s how he sees her. every morning + every night.
