A Photo a Week Challenge: She’s Got The Look

My mother was a no nonsense kind of person. She had a short fuse and little patience. She was organized and always on time, kept lists and took care of things. Emotional she was not. If you were looking for a hug, sympathy or someone to dry your tears she was short on giving those things. Her mother was not the type either, so I assume that is where the die was cast.

This photo was a typical look of hers, the resigned, ok what do you want, just get this over with look. No doubt mad she was the one cleaning up the leaves in the backyard instead of one of her 4 kids. I have no idea who took it, the date on it says 1985, making her 53 at the time.

This photo is another great moment in Pauline history… the don’t mess with me I am really ticked off look. Hand on hip, no smile, she means business. She had taken her camera in to the store where she bought it because something had gone wrong and she was not happy. The guy behind the counter took this photo. Whenever I see it I smile, because the guy probably didn’t know what hit him. My mother was someone to be reckoned with when she got mad.

But in all fairness, that was not my mother all the time. She was also an easy laugh, and once her children were grown she became calmer and less bothered by things. Life was easier. The photo below was taken at my grandfather’s summer home, during a meal on the beautiful screened in porch overlooking the water. Her easy smile shows the other side of her, that emerged during her later years.