Some months ago, I came across this amazing set of photos by Sacha Goldberger entitled Mamika. Here's an excerpt about the set from blog.gessato.com
Few years ago, French photographer Sacha Goldberger found his 91-year-old Hungarian grandmother Frederika feeling lonely and depressed. To cheer her up, he suggested that they shoot a series of outrageous photographs in unusual costumes, poses, and locations. Grandma reluctantly agreed, but once they got rolling, she couldn’t stop smiling. With the unexpected success of this series, titled “Mamika,” Goldberger created a MySpace page for his grandmother. She now has over 2,200 friends and receives messages like: “You’re the grandmother that I have dreamed of, would you adopt me?” and ” You made my day, I hope to be like you at your age.”
This week, I was reminded of this photoset while thinking about my granny. This old gal was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer a week after her first grandsons wedding. She went through a hellish week of doctors and biopsies and more doctors before finally being put under the knife earlier this week. No time, they said. The tumor is about to burst they felt.
So out came the tumor, and my super granny was back home after this major surgery within a few days. The thing is, she never broke her smile. No matter how worried she was, she took it amazingly, positively and beautifully. She taught me how to live this week, and this lesson I won't forget. Dadi, you're amazing, and even though this image depicts an entirely different women, this is how I see you.
She's already back to her super fit routine of daily walks and exercise, the drainage tubes sticking out of her be damned.
Wow.
Just Wow.
All my love
Your grandson
