Back in the summer of 1991 I met the cutest little creature who ever walked the face of the earth... My little cousin, Eliza. This photo has so much meaning for me. This was the first time that I met her. She was 10 months old, and we (the family) were at Duck, NC for a week at the beach renting a beach house. The house was crowded with my mom's sisters, their spouses, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles... You name it. I was 23 at the time, and had just finished my first year of college. I had also just discovered that I was an alcoholic, and this was the first summer that I tried to go "dry." I walked around all the time with a glass of Kingsbury (non-alcohol beer) and lime in my hand, and was smoking, too. This was 2 years out of the Army, and as you can see from the photo I was experimenting with hair again... Wow, somebody should have really sat down and had a talk with me! LOL
Anyway, it was a tough, transitional summer, and the highlight was meeting Eliza. She was cuter than a room full of puppies. The problem was- she hated me! I couldn't get near her without her crying. I tried everything... Entering the room slowly. Inching up to her... Crawling up to her low on the ground. Nothing worked. As soon as she spotted me she would go into this awful crying spell, as if to say "Get this monster away from me!" It was heart-breaking.
One afternoon I was holding her and trying to get her to like me, but she wouldn't have any of it! She hated being in my arms and was putting up a fuss. My dad snuck in from the side and caught her attention briefly with his camera. For a split second she turned away from me and gave him this curious look, and he snapped the picture. I love this picture! It looks like a sweet little girl having fun with her big cousin Joe... But the truth is, she was not "happy" at all, she was just distracted! It goes to show how the right moment caught exactly how you want it can convey a different message than the truth! LOL
By the way, over the years she decided to give me a chance and I eventually grew on her. She loves me now... awwww
Anyway, Liza turned 18 last weekend, and she just started her freshman year at college. I love her, and I miss her. I will be seeing her this Thanksgiving when I go home to Virginia for the first time in 22 months, and I'm really looking forward to catching up with her and hearing how college is going. She's my little sweetie-pie, and I'm very proud of her.
And there's your "blast from the past" for today!
3 comments:
That's sweet. I love hearing you tell the story that goes with that first picture of you and Liza.
"It goes to show how the right moment caught exactly how you want it can convey a different message than the truth!"
Reminds me Melissa's post with the re-edited movie trailers. Scary Mary was my favorite :)
are you going to send me a picture of that poster you made for her?
to bad you're going to virginia for thanksgiving...if you change your mind you can always come up here to salt lake. but wait...hasn't it been like 29 months since you've been up here? its only been 22 months since you've seen your family, so salt lake should be next.
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