Storytelling Sunday#2: Grandpa's Wedding


Hello Storytellers,

We're the first Sunday of the month and Sian invites us to share a moment to tell a story. I've not done it for a while, so I thought it was high time to be back and keep this blog series going. It's so unique and enjoyable to do it and read other people's stories. Here's mine:

Grandpa's Wedding - The Other Story


Here is a picture of my Grandpa circa 1932, aged 4, surrounded by 3 young ladies at school. Back then, there was no TV or DVD to entertain the kids. Teachers had to wrack their brains to find fun things to do.
On that day, the teacher thought they would play dress up and organize a wedding. Michel, aka Grandpa, thus married Renee. She was the teachers’ daughter and apparently had a miserable life with them. They were known in the village for being very harsh people. Her mother had the reputation of making the wooden floor tremble when she rushed to grab pupil’s cheeks because they were not listening.
Though they got “married” very young, Grandpa and Renee never flirted, nor thought about being more than friends as they grew up. They liked each other very much and were very close, but no line was ever crossed. They went to the movies and dancing together. From what he was able to tell me, she was an extremely kind person, that’s probably something they could share. My grandpa is the kindest person I know.
At the age of 18, Renee left to continue her studies in England and nearly never returned to her home village. She married and had kids.
If you know a Renée Brimont from Aouste, a small village in the North-East of France, please, reach out to me, my grandpa would love to reconnect, if she's still alive.
One the ladies in the background gave this photo to my grandpa a few months ago and it triggered all these memories back to his mind. He had forgotten about that first wedding. He later married my grandma, Suzy, around 1950 for real. But that’s a complete different story…


Hope you liked it as much as I did. I love working with vintage photos. I'm collecting more and more photos from my family and I also need to collect the stories that go with them. Someday, I'll make a big scrapbook with all of them, so we can all enjoy them. 
Alright, I'll grab a cup of tea and read my fellow participants' stories...
Have a nice Sunday!

Sabrina S.

Comments

  1. It's so good to have you back with us again this month and with such a delightful story (and oh! those photos)! Thank you

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  2. That first photo is just priceless....and what a wonderful story to go with it.

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  3. Hi Sabrina...thank you for stopping by my blog today! I enjoyed your story and love the photographs!
    Alison xx

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  4. Lovely story. You are so lucky to have the pictures to go with it

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  5. Hi Sabrina - what a marvelous story and what a treasure to have the photo.

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  6. How wonderful to have such a set of photos and do get the stories soon. That's what I wish I'd done before the grandparents all died :(

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  7. What a treasure to have photos like this and even more so that you still have your grandfather to share the story and about Renee.

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  8. What a great memory to have captured in a photo, and to be able to hear the story behind it first-hand.

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  9. What a great story! I envy you that you still have your grandfather to get stories from! I wish I had asked more questions of my grandparents.

    I loved your story and the fact that you had such a cool picture to go with it. I love those old vintage photos.

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  10. those photos and stories are amazing, I really need to try and go through some old photos with my parents and learn the stories behind them

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  11. Amazing photos and story, Sabrina! This makes me miss my Papa very much. I think I'll go look at some old photos and read his letters now. :)

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  12. That is such a precious photo Sabrina and what a cute story to go with it. Those photos will be awesome to scrapbook and I too have just found a love for scrapping old black and white photos.

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  13. Its great having such a good relationship with your grandpa. My grandpa, all of 94 is just angry biitter these days. Grandma, though is so gentle and kind. I know how certain part of oneself gets erased having lost my parents.

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  14. Lovely memories and photographs to share with us this Sunday, Sabrina. Wouldn't it be great if someone knew Renee!
    Thank you for stopping by my blog. I really appreciate it.

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  15. That first wedding cracks me up - top hat and all! He doesn't look so thrilled to be tying the knot.

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  16. The photo is adorable! The teachers did a great job of getting them dressed up. It is amazing that you have the photo now.

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  17. Gorgeous photo. I hope you will find Renee and Grandpa can reconnect with her.

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  18. I agree, those photos are wonderful and you are so lucky to have the stories to go with them. Sorry it took me so long to get around this week.

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  19. What a lovely photo and story

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  20. What a fabulous story Sabrina - I do hope that this post manages to reconnect your Grandpa with his first "wife" - you never know!

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  21. Oh what a lovely story and that picture is a real treasure.

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