Friday, April 27, 2012

My Grandma Mollie, the epitome of ageless beauty.

My grandma Mollie taught me by example - never talked about being old, or in pain with her bursitis, which never stopped her from cooking for the whole family for high holy days, or taking me shopping for clothes or making me and my grandpa lunch every day when I worked for him in the Bronx at Hunts Point.

I think I saw her in pants twice... and she looked so elegant with her tapered, light colored, slacks and foo-foo mule shoes...I can still hear them yippy yapping against her feet as she pranced across the Miami hotel's shiny waxed floor. We were on vacation there.

In this picture, in 1972, you can see... this outfit is a product of going shopping with my grandmother who was always more up on fashion than I was. No, your eyes are not deceiving you, I was the quintessential poster child for all things 70's - hot pink velvet hot pant, leather fringe belt, white go go boots and pink puckered shirt... I must have been trying to get the whole fashion thing together in just that one day.  My grandmother is the one standing next to me in the red checkered dress... not sure how me and dad wound up being colored coordinated... but there it is.


In this picture of my grandparents, taken in 1993 in my apartment in Manhattan, more than 20 years later, you can see that she is still vibrant and stylish... and the last time I saw my grandmother, at age 92, she was wearing a red  suit, silk scarf, Italian made shoes and bag to match, not to mention her coordinating jewelry.

The only thing grandma Mollie ever mentioned to me about aging was when she said, "Robbie dahling, you always need to use a very emollient face cream."  She told me this... when I was 20.

What's a story you remember about your grandmother?

5 comments:

  1. Ageless beauty, ageless STYLE! I'm thinking Gma Mollie passed on the gene to you through your photographers eye.
    My grandmother loved her costume jewels--I still have her 'diamond' bangles and a matching pair of gold poodle pins with emerald eyes. Thank you for sharing your memories Robbie:)

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  2. Thank you so much Sophie. I am hoping that I have half the fashion sense that my grandmother had... of course, as time goes on, I appreciate her even more.

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  3. My favorite story/lesson from my Grandma: My sister and I would often 'fight' and quarrel...Grandma would often hear us (I was blessed to have her at our house often while growing up)and say, in the midst of our quarrel, "Now girls, don't fight. Just love each other." Not only did she take the wind out of our argument, to this day, my sister and I remember those wonderful words! (Oh, and my sister and I....we couldn't love each other more!!!)

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  4. Thank you Joan for sharing that... what a loving memory... which obviously lasted a life time. Beautiful.

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  5. nice way of showing the differences of snaps.. good work:)
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