Once Upon A Time......

Once upon time there were 3 photo albums. One was filled with the beginnings of a new life as two kids made pledges, shared the hope through a time of grief, and lived life. Familiar faces stared into the lens and each picture spoke words of promise and anticipation. The next two albums documented life, event, pregnancies,birth of children and special moments between mother, father and child that only a lens can capture.

Four years of life in pictures - long before digital cameras, internet, and computers - and then divorce came for that young couple and those albums were left behind. Years came and went and requests for the albums were denied. A new spouse enters the story and picks apart the albums...throwing away reminders of her new husband's previous life. "It's a rumor..not true...didn't happen..the albums are safe and sound", he protests.

Flash forward 2 decades.

"Mom, do you have baby pictures of me?"
"No, you will have to ask your Father, he has them all."

Today:
"Mom, my Dad went through the albums and there are some pictures there. But, there are none that have you in them. Dad's shocked that "SHE" did that - he didn't know."

There are no pictures of the children's mother in them. No pictures of her sharing happy moments with her family, her children, her friends, her life. Not one photograph of her holding her children for the very first time, or celebrating her child's 1st birthday, or 2nd birthday, or of the time she was big as a barn while pregnant again, and then bringing another child home from the hospital to crappy base housing.

Gone. All gone.

The End.