I had an amazing birthday last night, best I’ve had in a long time. I got to wear a pretty dress, go out to dinner with some awesome people, and got some lovely gifts and flowers. And my husband really made my birthday special by spoiling me.  :)

I asked people to come to my birthday dinner dressed in 1950’s attire, so as I was getting ready, curling my hair in a retro style, and attempting to do period-accurate make up, I was thinking of that time period, and of my family, especially my maternal grandmother who has passed now.  I do resemble my father a lot, but I love the photos of my grandmother and see a lot of myself in them.

My mother in NZ has all the family photos, so I don’t have any of the ones from when I was a kid. These were all taken in the 50’s – top photo is Granny and Papa with my mother and her two sisters, bottom left is Granny and Papa, bottom right is Granny and her mother Grandma Lloyd… Hard to imagine that in the top photo my grandmother was 13 years younger than I am now, with a whole family… Whereas I still feel like kid half the time!

This is a comparison of myself on my birthday and my grandmother in the mid-1950’s.  Still younger than me, dammit!  But I’d guess we’re of a more similar age here.

I always regretted not contacting her more as I got older.  It’s hard when you’re living overseas to remember extended family as much as you should I guess.  But I do miss her and all my family in the States and wish I could see them more often.  <3