Me and my Grandpa Harry Atwell, circa 1963
Sometimes I see a photograph and enjoy it so much that I want to see beyond the edges. Who else was present? Where was the photo taken? Who took the photo? Seven years ago when my Auntie Marlene first showed me this photo, I immediately wanted to see beyond the edges. My Grandpa Atwell and I are center in this photograph and my cousin Brad is seated next to me with a cake of his own, we both have birthdays in May. This is probably my 2nd birthday, 1963, and my Grandma Atwell would have still been alive. Maybe that's her arm, moving the cake a little closer to me so I can blow out the candles with my Grandpa's encouragement.
This photo is interesting to me because I don't remember my Grandpa as a particularly happy man but he is clearly enjoying himself here. I guess this is where I should mention that later in life, he was burdened with mental health issues that were never diagnosed due to his unwillingness to seek help. However, he enjoyed his grandchildren and was always ready with sleight-of-hand tricks involving coins or other objects and my favorite where he would pull his thumb into two pieces. An artist, inventor and general tinker, he held patents for some of his ideas and with the proper capital, I believe, would been quite successful. His story and artwork can be found on the "Atwell" page.