Mom, I never knew!

Gingerly turning over newly-found old papers, photographs and assorted documents, surprise: Mom had artistic talent.

The loosely bound faded green “Clippings” book that surfaced this past weekend gave that away.

Mom saved the collection during WW II, when our mother was single and in her late teens to early twenties.

But at the back of the volume, past the war clippings are a number of sketches.

Mom, the artist?

Wow, who had any idea?

To think that she never mentioned that skill or displayed it.

A plausible explanation is that her generation was not one to talk about self very much; it wasn’t only the war veteran husbands that kept things to themselves. The wives were pretty reticent too.

One of Mom’s sketches appears above. It is dated 1940 when she was a teenage stenographer, probably her first real job.

I wonder if she ever applied for or won the advertised Free Art Course? Unfortunately, I  can’t get a clear answer at this stage in her life.

But don’t think that our mother suffered in silence for years, harboring deep-seated regrets at not becoming an artist.

She has said throughout her ninety-two years that her greatest accomplishment is her three children: we all managed to avoid or evade jail, never took newspapers from stoops, or stole apples from green-grocer carts.

I just made that up, but you know what I mean: the three of us turned out okay,

And we sure wouldn’t have if Mom – and Dad – wasn’t there for us.

You might want to ask your mother or grandmother if they have any hidden talents.

There could be a surprise, and it wouldn’t have taken years and years to find out.