Forever Young

Dear Diary,

In that box I discovered in my studio recently I found this photograph of my grandmother, age 16 in 1906.  I restored it the best I could and colorized it.  I was just stunned at how young she looked, like a young Katherine Hepburn I thought.  We rarely think of our grandparents like this but they were young once, with all the hope and anticipation that held.

Last night I listen to the Joan Baez concert on PBS.  It was her 75th birthday concert.  That stunned me too.  She was my idol when I was 16.  I had all her albums.  She combined grace, talent and activism during a turbulent time in American history and I admired her tremendously.  She ended the concert with the Bob Dylan song, "Forever Young".

In this photograph my grandmother is forever young.  That is the amazing gift of the photographic image, to hold tight to a moment in time and preserve it.  That image was made 110 years ago and holding it today was a powerful experience with Joan's words running through my head and remembering that 16 year old girl I was back then.  We can't stop the aging process but at times we can travel back, through a photograph or a song.

"Forever Young" sung by Joan Baez.