'These photos were taken in the early 1970s in an old-fashioned passport photo booth at the station in Heerenveen. At the time, I found them a bit embarrassing as a teenager, because my parents looked like teenagers in love. My mother must have sat on my father's lap in that cramped cubicle, just the idea! Fifty years later they are a cherished memory: you see how much fun they had at that moment and how much they must have loved each other.
Their characters were very different. My mother was intelligent, adventurous and serious. After the war, in which she had felt locked up, she wanted to develop and taste free life. She moved from the countryside to Leeuwarden and trained as a nurse. In the 1950s she made a career in The Hague, Rotterdam and London. My father was more grounded and very charismatic. Shortly after his 25th anniversary as an employee in the year I was born, he took over his father's sole proprietorship. He must have felt obliged to do this as a good son, but the pressure was too much and the free life was too free for him. There were a lot of tensions at home and there was always a lack of money.
These photos are the silent witness of real love and slide over the less pleasant memories of that time. In 1981 my father could receive benefits if he quit his business. He did that immediately. My parents were very fortunate to receive this minimal benefit and lived in good harmony for another nine years until my father died in 1990. My independent mother continued her life and died fifteen years later in their old house, which she would not have left for anything.”
Written by Gretha Pama
#39My #mother #sat #lap #idea39
