Wondering if old photo of my dad sort of reveals the origins

[Blueberry Pancakes]

There was an old black and white photo of my dad that my parents kept around the house forever. In it, he is a young 22-year-old man smiling broadly at the camera showing his perfectly straight teeth and dimples. He had just returned "home" after fours in the US Navy. "Home" to him at that moment was his mother's apartment.   
   
He is standing in the kitchen by an exterior door. It looks as though he is leaving. He is wearing his Navy peacoat all buttoned up, white Navy hat, and in his right hand he is holding the strings to a duffel bag leaning against his leg. My mom and sister always said how handsome he looked and how they thought the photo was so cute. He said everything he owned was in that bag. He said he had just gotten out of the Navy, but nobody was there to greet him or pick him up. His parents had divorced years earlier and his dad was never present in his life. He said he went to where his mother was living only to find her living with a boyfriend. He did not know who the guy was, but he said he could stay there.   Eventually he lived at a friend's house until he found a job to afford his own place.
       
I always thought that photo was so incredibly sad. It was my dad returning home to nobody who made room for him. I could not believe my mom and sister never saw that dynamic in that picture. My dad would likely have been feeling quite lost in that photo, even perhaps rejected by his mother and ignored by his father. My dad said prior to his parent's divorce, they fought constantly, and his mother would leave for days and then suddenly reappear out of nowhere again. Early traumas were described but never acknowledged or reconciled.
 
A few years ago, I saw that photo and I picked it up and held it up to my parents. For the first time I told them both exactly what I saw. They both just shrugged. Everything I said just turned to vapor. 

I still think of that photo. In my heart, I think it reveals a sad reality and sort of explains a lot. 
 

[SpiritedChange]

As an HSP I can totally understand where you are coming from and I felt very sad for your dad after reading your post.

Out of curiosity, I asked my non-HSP husband his thoughts about it, and interestingly he had a very different reaction, and thought that maybe you are reading something into that incident that may not really be there. Yes, it would have been nice if someone had picked your dad up at the station, but it's quite possible that your dad didn't take it personally that there was nobody there to meet him. Also, he was invited to stay with his mother by her boyfriend which to me says that he was probably at least a half-way decent person. Perhaps your dad genuinely wasn't phased by any of it hence his reaction when you brought it up, but even if he does have some feelings about it that he wishes to avoid, I don't think he was intentionally trying to be invalidating. He may simply have not been willing to open that can of worms, if that makes sense?

[Blueberry Pancakes]

Also, he was invited to stay with his mother by her boyfriend which to me says that he was probably at least a half-way decent person. Perhaps your dad genuinely wasn't phased by any of it ...

Actually, no, he was NOT invited to stay by his mother's boyfriend. I did not even say that in my post.

[NarcKiddo]

It is sad and I am sure you are right that it explains a lot. I am glad that you felt able to tell your parents what the photograph says to you because you gave them a chance to talk about it. That they did not is on them, not you. Your father may have buried any feelings he has around that matter but at least he knows that you have thoughts about it should he ever wish to raise the subject with you. If somebody is not ready to discuss something, even with themselves, then there is not much you can do. I am sorry you felt invalidated by their response.

Old photos can be so telling if you look properly. I recently came across an old photo of me and my mother on a funfair ride. I must have been about 6. I've seen it before but had not seen it for years. When I saw it again recently I really looked properly at the expressions on our faces. We were not having fun and it was nothing to do with the ride being scary. It was a very tame ride that I know I loved when taken there by my grandmother.