On a tour of places Van Gogh lived and painted while he spent a year and a half in Arles, France, I ran into a lady who looked exactly like my Mom. Our tour guide, shown here discussing the hospital where Van Gogh recuperated following his self-imposed ear surgery, had given us some free time to wander around the town on our own.
As I bopped around the corner of one of the narrow streets, I ran into an older lady wearing a scarf and noticed that she looked exactly like my Mom. In fact, the resemblance was so strong that I stopped and stared at her which she couldn’t help but notice since I had literally almost run her over as I came around the corner and bumped into her. Not knowing what to say, I uttered one of the 3 French phrases that I know well enough to try and say out aloud “Excusez-moi.”
She smiled and just nodded but as she did so it was then I immediately knew that it was not my Mom because this old gal had some very bad teeth. So bad in fact that I smiled back at her thinking “With teeth like that lady, you really shouldn’t even try to be smiling.”
Needless to say, my Mom illusion was ruined. However, as I continued on my way, I did glance back at her walking away and thought, “Sure wish she hadn’t smiled at me. I could go on thinking that Mom had paid me a visit.”
Back in Ridge, however I visited her on the anniversary of her death 4 years ago. Here is my photo with orbs and all.
And speaking of walking away, Left Banke had one big hit but it was great one:
P.S. To whomever left me the Skeleton Bank on the Buzzy front porch Friday – thank you! What a nice post-Halloween treat!
