The Hills Are Alive.. WIth Old Lady Haircuts

Marriage and childbearing must have really aged my mother. She seems to have converted to full-coverage hyper-modesty the second my sister was born. I think the hairstyle she is going for here is either the Sound of Music or Jane Eyre.. or perhaps an ear-covering combination thereof. Her skin looks lovely though.. even though it's hard to look past the puffed sleeves and the giant neck-bow to notice.

Dad looks badly in need of a nap and a haircut. Little Kimmy has the most adorable arms I have ever seen in this picture. I just want to pinch them.

And then.. this happened. A few years later we see that Dad took his nap and got his haircut. The super-wide tie and its double windsor knot are quite retro. Mom has aged dramatically. This is the first picture with a hint of the downturned-smile that she later became famous for. You know it.. the excuse for a smile that says "I am doing this under duress. I am actually exquisitely miserable and you should feel terrible about yourself for ever expecting me to actually smile." This may have been brought on by the gigantic glasses that are threatening to eat her entire face and the fact that she added a huge neck-bow and polyester blouse to the kicky little ensemble she was wearing at 26. (See "Once Upon a Time.." posted a few days ago).

"Kimmy" is snaggletoothed and adorable. I look vaguely confused and badly in need of a latte. "How did I get here? What's going on? Can somebody direct me to the nearest Starbucks??" Only we didn't have Starbucks back then.

Wow, it really must have been worse than we remember, huh? ;-)