Reminiscence

This is my mother circa 1949. I wonder who she was back then. The only person I knew was Mother, but before her marriage and my birth she was a single young woman with dreams, goals, aspirations. What did she want, what did she do? Did she love chocolate back then the way I do now? Did she drink coffee, tea, soda, alcohol? Did she date often or was she a loner? Did she go to parties and flirt with the young men? Did she love to shop? Did she laugh a lot or was this photo special? Was she adventurous or was she cautious? Did she want to get married or did she do it because that's what she was supposed to do? Did she believe in a God who loved her or did she tremble in the belief of an unforgiving God? Did she understand that she was a creative woman? Did she know that she was beautiful or did she constantly worry about her imperfections? Did she want to travel the world or was she happy in a small universe? I'll never know the answers to these questions. My mother died almost 23 years ago and I never asked her who she was before I came into her life and changed it forever.