Old Photographs

One of my favorite things to do is to look at pictures, especially really old ones. Now my mom was about as good of a scrapbooker as I am. It was no surprise to find boxes and boxes of old photographs when I was cleaning out my mom's house. I brought them home with me and from time to time love to look back through them. These boxes are pictures from my dad's Navy days, ones from my parents early years of marriage, and early family photos of the four of us (my mom, dad, brother, and me).

This is my dad and mom. I know for certain that this was my mom's senior high school picture. Because there was no date on the picture of my dad, I can't be sure but I can say it was probably made before they married. Now weren't they a good lookin' pair? :)

And don't you just love the story a picture can tell? My parents were never publicly affectionate. I can't tell you that I ever saw them hug or hold hands. They were married for 28 years before my dad passed and I can assure you I never saw that kind of affection. Look at these two pictures! How cute are they- looking all in love and cuddly!! I love it!

My parents adopted my brother, Robert when he was six months old in 1969 and then adopted me when I was two months old in 1971. I can say this because I had a huge baby- Avery weighed almost 29 pounds when he was a year old. Look at my brother in the red- he's (to use a word from Aidan's vocabulary) hugongous!

Referring back to pictures telling a story, I love this one of my granny and grandaddy Wright (my mom's parents) and Granny Grunt (I don't know why we called her that- my mom's grandmother). You can't help but notice there's some history here. My Granny Grunt was not always the biggest fan of the man who married her daughter- Grandaddy Wright. Even though this was the case, I never knew until my mom told me years and years down the road. They were very civil to each other- even if their facial expressions in pictures gave them away. :)

Here's my bother and me with our daddy. He left home at an early age and joined the Navy so he always sported a crew cut. He was very loving and very stern. He was one of those daddies who could just give you "the look" and you got yourself straight real quick. He was a man of few words but when he spoke he meant it. These pictures make me smile because I loved sitting on my daddy's lap. I did it even when I was in college- I did up until he got too sick for me to do it. There was safety and comfort in that lap.

Here's our 1972 (I think it was a '72) Ford Pinto Stationwagon- it was dark green and we had that car till it fell apart literally. My dad won that car through his work, Greyhound Bus Lines. He was a ticket agent and they had put agents names in a drawing if they sold a certain quota. And there's me with my guitar I got from Santa one Christmas. I really love this picture now because if you look closely you'll see my tongue sticking out while I'm concentrating on playing it. Aidan does the same thing when he's concentrating on something.

The last pictures that I came across was from when my dad's brother and his family came to visit from Texas. We went to Opryland. My dad's favorite ride at Opryland was the Flume Zoom- he called it the log ride. Here's my dad, me, and my cousin Kim coming down the big hill. I had to include the picture of us on the train at Opryland too. The train is the ONLY ride my mom would get on. :)

I hope that my boys will look back fondly at pictures of our family and friends and let the good memories come washing over them.