7 Quick Takes Friday

The Scanned, Autobiographical Edition

In gearing up to resume the telling of my conversion story, I thought I might share a few images from my past–seven of them, because it is, after all, 7 Quick Takes Friday.

Do you mind revisiting my past with me? Here are a few of the people and ideas that shaped a much younger Margaret, pulled straight from the memory box that sits on her shelf.

This is my mother when she was a gal. Wasn’t she a looker? The story goes that my aunt began sending photos of my mom to my dad–who was not my dad at that point–while he was a WWII Marine. My mom had no idea that the photos she was sending to her sister Lil were ending up in the hands of George, whom, to my great joy and relief, she eventually wound up marrying.

This is my mom’s daughter–one of her five daughters, that is. Yes, that’s my senior photo, complete with wicker chair and big, big hair. (I worked very hard to get those curls, by the way, and was fine as long as there was no wind or no one ever touched it.)

This is Greasy the Clown. He, too, has lots of curls in his big big hair, and was drawn by Don, a counselor at a Catholic summer camp I once attended. Little girl that I was at the time, I felt that Don was a great artist–and in his own way, I guess he was–because you could ask him to draw anything and he’d just crank it out.

My admiration for all things artistic would continue…

This is Joe, a boy that I met when I was studying art in Scotland. Here he is on the steps of that art school, one of the first boys I really loved. (Okay, granted, I thought I loved a lot of boys. I loved myself far more than them, though, which is always problematic in a relationship.)

Joe was a great artist. Here is one of his paintings, The Association of Life and Death. One of Joe’s favorites themes was that of a parallel reality–in this case, meaninglessness vs. hopefulness. (I get a huge kick out of the comical beauty of Roger and Jenny’s expressions of love there at the bottom. )

This guy is another one of my favorite artists. I saw him in concert the same summer that I met Joe. Can you name him? His music really shaped me, and of course led to an enormous crush on John Cusack later on….

I was given a book called The Man Who Planted Trees by another young man I thought I loved. (I told you! There were a few of them.) I photocopied this page from the book (click on the image to enlarge the text) and started to think–more seriously, more faithfully–about the qualities of my character.

I mean, really. How me, me, me could I be be be? Something had to give…or else, I would.

Happy First Friday, everyone! Visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary to see all of the entries for 7 Quick Takes Friday, and as always, make your life count.

All for the Greater Glory of God,