Mom

In the early 1940's:


and in 1960, with five daughters:

The last daughter was born the following May.
Not pictured is my brother, away at school.
I don't know what the occasion was, but as it appears
to be late summer, it's most likely a post-mass
Sunday afternoon.

Not long before she passed away, in 2002, she asked me
what I wanted from her few remaining possessions.
I told her that the only thing I wanted was her biscuit cutter:



Coming from a big family, there were always surrogate moms
on the scene, most notably my sister Ann. I think the story
is that when I was born, Mom handed me to Ann (who was,
I think, 8 years old), and said "Here! She's yours!"
(Or something close to that.)
So much responsibility for someone so young.