Monday, May 24, 2010

A Little Girl

The shelf under my bedroom window holds a number of framed photos of days gone by... I love pictures of long ago; especially ones of family or ancestors. Of course there weren't a lot of photos taken back then, so the ones we do have are very special.

The little girl in these photos was named Albina Marie; a name that was pretty unique here but fairly common in the country her mother came from, which was Bohemia. Unfortunately her mother died when she was 18 months old. After that, her main caretaker was her paternal grandmother; along with aunts and uncles that still lived at home. Her Auntie Ann was especially attentive to her and this photo shows them sitting in a field of tall grass together. I would estimate that Albina was about 4 years old here. I love the straw hats they are wearing and her little hand that is resting on her Aunt's knee:)

This photo appears to be taken the same day and has her holding a big work horse whose head is the same size as Albina's whole body! It must have been a very calm, well behaved horse!
I was always intrigued about this little girl, so would constantly ask my Mom questions about her. It was told to me that Albina never remembered her mother as she was so young when she died. She did though, recall her Dad coming to the grandmother's house after work; he would pick her up on his lap and she remembered playing with his pocket watch.

I look at these photos often and wonder what her life was really like then...
Now that I am a grandmother I can relate more to this story and am comforted by the care and love she must have received from her grandmother and aunt. I am so thankful that this little girl had a loving family that helped raise her as Albina grew up to be a wonderful mother.
I knew her well; I called her Mom:)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww, that is too sweet. Love it and the photos.

Kyrstin said...

Very nice - the pictures are wonderful. I love the one with her sitting in the grass!

Gina F. said...

That is too sweet and special. I love the photos. It was 92 today and very hot. I made some fresh lemonade for the kids and some iced cold iced tea for the adults. We all sat under the porch and had a nice talk in the evening. What a nice time to relax and watch the sun go down. I hope everything went well with moving Kinsey home. Have a great day!!! :)

Gina
motherof1princessand2princes.blogspot.com

Kinsey said...

Very nice post mom!

Life Is A SandCastle said...

What nice family photos to have, I love working on our family tree when I get a chance. Beautiful Photos.

Missie said...

Beautiful photographs and story!

april bodenburg said...

Ah! I'm getting caught up on your posts. Love this one and of course love the photos!... and of course it made me tear up at the end (pregnancy hormones!?!?) ;) Beautifully written. :)