“Memoir is your present negotiating with versions of your past for a future you’re willing to show up in.”
Margo Jefferson, “Constructing a Nervous System”
Dad joined the navy out of high school. He went to the College of Forestry in Syracuse, NY on the GI bill. Mom and Dad met in their hometown when they were home from college.
Portrait of an American family before expat life. The tenant house on my grandparents’ dairy farm. Dressed for Sunday Quaker Meeting.
Tenant house. Outhouse in back. My bedroom window under the eave at the peak.
Me on Tammy. Dad riding Geronimo.
It’s my tenth birthday and Dad is teaching me to jitterbug. I used the photo for my 50th party invitation, cutting out Dad, tossing the photo. I wish I’d waited.
Jordan ‘61 - ‘63. Mom packed food wherever we went. Eric and I weren’t picky eaters.
Stone cutters set up next to our house on Jebel L’Webdieh.
Donkey rides look more fun than there are - hot and scratchy. Did Mom set us up for a picture? She could be relentless with that camera but I’m happy she took as many photos as she did.
Jordanian hills from Amman rooftop.