Opal and Clyde...My Newest Relatives

It happened last month that we went to the same antique mall twice in one rare weekend, my husband and I...he saw this photo the first day, I saw it the second. He hadn't mentioned it to me, but when I spotted it, I said "Oh look, someone is selling grandpa and grandma!" it seemed so sad to me, and my husband said he'd noticed it the day before. He said we should bring it home.

And I've imagined all kinds of things about this couple: but one thing I know is this: they look like a good, hardworking, content, "salt of the earth" couple who loved their family and were in church with their children every Sunday. These are the kinds of couples who built this great country and carried their work ethic from the old country to the new land of opportunity, and loved their new homeland fiercely.


My son frequently chides me about buying relatives, and I guess I have a soft spot for this couple we shall call Clyde and Opal...

I love his old hat, the overalls, the hands (especially the hands! click on photo for a larger view) that have worked so hard for so long and served him well, and the bit of a mischevious look he has around the mouth. I think he was proud of Opal and that she was a good mother and wife, an excellent cook and had a great sense of humor, and was a neighbor that those all around their tidy farm knew that they could count on.

She looks like she would laugh easily whether the joke was hers or not. I think she preserved a lot of food on the pantry shelves and baked alot of bread and pies. I think she loved children and had a kind word backed up with kind deeds.


I can imagine Clyde and Opal in the late evening when they were all alone in the house, the dishes were in the drainer, the dishcloth hung up to dry, with the old Frigidaire quietly humming; the raspberry pie on the counter covered carefully with a cotton dishtowel. Everything on the farm by now was in their stalls out in the barn (built by Clyde, Opal and the whole family) and was quiet as the shadows lay across the handmade braided rag rug she'd done years before, made with all the carefully saved rags and old clothing all the kids had grown out of over the years.

Their rockers creaked on the golden oak floor in unison. No words needed to be said, they'd lived with each other now for almost sixty years, the silence is comfortable, and the moments were tender. He felt lucky to have her, still couldn't believe she'd said yes and she couldn't imagine life without this shy, quiet boy she'd watched as he became an old man.


She'd be with him through to the very end, could easily, (more easily now than ever), overlook all his quirks and faults and he did the same for her. There'd be no question when both of them were gone-- in their kids' minds, they would know that Clyde and Opal had a wonderful life and a wonderful love. Opal and Clyde gave them wonderful memories to live with and build their families by.

See why I like to buy a relative every now and then?