Sanatorium

One of my favourite photos in the album from my grandmother is this one, of her brother in a sanatorium in Harderwijk, the Netherlands in the 40's: 

Sanatorium sounds psychiatric, suggesting a place where one's sanity is restored, but it's an institution for medically supervised recuperation from disease, usually tuberculosis. From a medical and a literary perspective, I was admittedly pleased to discover that a relative had suffered from consumption.

 

I love the button-up pyjamas, the drape of the bed sheets, the sun behind the curtains in the high windows and - most of all - the perplexing X where Oma marked her brother in ballpoint pen.

Comments

[Janice]

Sanatorium does make one think of a psychiatric ward. There is a road in Hamilton named Sanatorium and I always wondered what institution it was named for. Did your Oma's brother die of TB? Obviously Oma must of told you...!

[slydi]

fascinating! i didn't know TB was in the family. is it hereditary? : ) maybe the x isn't so perplexing if you consider that perhaps oma thought she would forget who her brother was in the picture as she got older.

[FreshMD]

@Janice - No, he recovered after a year. She told me what he died of but - ummm - I already forgot.

@slydi - Try to imagine yourself marking your brothers in a photo in anticipation of forgetting them in the future. Unsettling thought, no? Oddly, that's the only photo in the book that she marked.

[Nina]

Your Oma's 'x' reminds me of my nana's strange narrations she inscribed on her own photos. Including one of her daughter's (my grandmother's) wedding photo: "sorrow unknown". That one hung on our wall for years.

[L.]

thank you for these two posts on your family album! I helped my grandmother sort through a box of pictures last year, and it was amazing to hear about my older relatives (all of whom lived in Europe). Inspired by the first post I called my grandmother and she was so happy to hear my voice (I haven't seen her in almost a year), and talking to her made me happier than anything else I can remember in the last few months.

So, thank you for reminding me to call my grandmother.

[slydi]

What a scream, Nina! Tee hee.

[FreshMD]

@Nina - That's so ominous! Was she a prophetess?

@L - I know - the pleasure I get from visiting with my grandparents is so rich; few other things compare.

[Chandra]

Martina, I can envision you taking a road trip here:

http://therealwaverlyhills.com/

[FreshMD]

@Chandra - Yes, that does appeal to me. It also looks to me like the perfect field trip for a homeschooling family. Check out that Body Chute.