Seventeen 05/11/00

I keep looking at a photo that Elsa copied and framed and put on the hutch cabinet next to where I sit for most of the day.  It is a formal yearbook photo of Pete taken when he was around 17 in his last year at Harrisburg  Academy.  When I look at it, my maternal feelings make me want to put my arms around him and tell him everything will be all right.   

He just looks so vulnerable.

It was taken a few years after his adored mother's death, who died when he was barely in his teens.  She lingered several days after giving birth; the baby, like all her others except Pete, lived only a few hours.   Pete and his mother were very close; from what I heard from his Aunt Fanny and Aunt Marge (and even "Aunt" Norma), he was not only her sole surviving chick, the two were very similar in spirit and sweet nature.  

About a year after his mother died, Pete's father remarried.  Norma, Pete's step-mother, was the woman his father had been involved with for several years, including while his mother was dying.   When Pete was given his choice of prep schools, including Haverford, he chose Harrisburg Academy.  It was far enough away that no one would expect him to come home over weekends.

It is not surprising, given his background, that his view of an effective father was based on stability and caring support rather than big salaries and fancy fittings.  

When he fell in love with me, his step-mother told me she was so glad that I was going to marry Pete because he was starving for love.   Well, he got it, alright!  It was a pleasure.

Give a loved one an extra hug for me tonight - Pete's Own True Love

On this 2014 Mother's Day, am giving a loving shout-out to my paternal grandmother,

Lillian Bessemer Lockhart, and to my mother, Katharine Reynolds Lockhart, the daughter-in-law she never met & would have loved!