Family portrait

Here is my Gran (Jean) and Papa (Albert) on their wedding day. They are the grandparents I’m living with just now and I’m very close to them both. They are 70 now, so this pic was taken 50 years ago when they were both 20. Nowadays, people would think that’s a very young age to get married – but apparently back then it was the norm!

How gorgeous are these medium format prints? A few have Ilford printed on the back, which is a really well known film make. Wish I could get a hand on one of these cameras, I think I will defo be keeping all my manual and lomo cameras until I’m grey and old – If my grandkids are anything like me then I’m sure they will thank me for it! 🙂 Maybe I’m just biased, but I think Jean looks absolutely gorgeous in these pictures and my Papa looks like a bit of a hunk too, hehe.

Here are some pictures a bit later on in their marriage, once they’d had my mum, her older sister Elaine, her younger sister Paula and younger brother Chris. The old lady in the pic is my Papas mum – Granny Lizzy. Haha, she was an absolute legend, but passed away about 9 years ago. I’m loving my grans 60’s glasses, and the picture on the top right. At a family party, clearly quite tipsy and singing to each other. Auw!

And here is a picture of my wee mammy, Karen, the day I was born! She was only 23, and my dad was 19 (shock horror) It freaked him out so much that they broke up and he ran away to America and then Berlin for a while (1989, he even has a tiny piece of the Berlin wall in his house) And when he came back, for three years he phoned my mum every day begging to see me. A typical, stubborn young woman she said no for such a long time, and eventually when I was four years old she gave in. She was mad at him for so long for being a flighty young man and leaving us, but now they get on really well and I have always had a brilliant relationship with my dad. My family still adore him! I see all that side of the family regularly and now my dad and his fiance are expecting their first baby in august 🙂 So I’ll be a half big sister yet again! (Aaron and Tyler who I’ve posted about before are my half bro and sis, from when my Mum was with my stepdad)

Here’s me at a couple months old, I really did look like a little monkey.

Here’s me and my mammy when I was about a year old. She still looks so young!

Haha, and here’s me with my cousin Emma. Shes the daughter of my mums oldest sister Elaine, and they moved down to Leeds after she got married to my Uncle and they had Emma and her little sister Katie. My Mum and Aunty Elaine were preggers at the same time, so Emma is about 5 months younger than me. We were a gruesome twosome when we got together – funny family videos worthy of You’ve Been Framed are all boxed up in the attic :p

I won the beer fight. I’ve not changed much 😉

These aren’t really family related, but I found some gorgeous old pics which are really random but have such a retro feel to them. My great grans dog, my second cousins in the pool on holiday, Big Ben and a sunset shot from the car. I need to put these up somewhere 🙂

21 years later, this is me and my Mum ♥ We’ve been through hard times but she is a real inspiration to me.

Almost a year ago now, one of my best friends Gemma gave birth to a little baby boy 🙂 It was a bit of a shock to her and her boyfriend, but they are a happy couple with such supportive friends and family and it makes me sad when young woman get judged for having a baby and wanting to settle down as well as balancing their career alongside it. In the first picture, would anyone have judged my gran for starting a family at 21? and my mum at 23? Most likely no. Our society has became less tolerant of this over the years, but at 21 Gemma is such a caring and loving mother and friend, I’m so proud to be a part of her little boys life just as my mums best friends would have been for her when I popped my head into the world 🙂

He’s such a cutie, going to be an absolute heartbreaker when he’s older. On the flip side, I know many friends who still have very normal family situations. David for example has a brother and sister, his Mum and Dad are still together and have been happily married for many years. The more I think about it, I’m wondering if these days ‘the norm’ really is the norm? My family tree and setup is pretty dysfunctional and non traditional to say the least, but I’m beginning to discover that there are plenty of people out there who have a tale similar to mine. If anyone feels like sharing, I’d love to hear your story ♥