Sweet Jenni at www.storyofmylifetheblog.blogspot.com issued a fun challenge to bloggers to blog Every Single Day in May and she supplied the topics for all 31 days. Yep, I’m behind, but there are no rules, and no blog police come knocking if you miss, skip, or mess up. So, hey, I’m in!
Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why
Jenni’s Blogging Challenge sure has caused a lot of reminiscing the last few days! When I saw the topic for today I knew the one I wanted to go searching for. It’s always been a favorite of mine. It’s the last family shot before I was married and it was taken by The Sweetheart. He was a photography buff and even had a wedding photography business for several years after we were first married.
But there are so many more reasons that I love this particular portrait.
The Brady Bunch Effect. Yeah, we have it going on. We just “scream” the 70’s! Cowl necks, turtlenecks, long wing collars, and corduroys. I just loved that little gray vest and skirt in the picture, one of my favorites. Groovy, man.
Family. There is nothing like it. This was the end of years of living under the same roof, sharing meals at the same table. Fights, squabbles, and endless “He said, she said…” But that is what makes up a family. When my brothers were young they could have the best fights! But if someone else tries to pick on one of them they would come to each other’s defense in a minute.
I remember one time my sister and I were washing dishes together. Boy, were we made at each other for something. I have no idea what it was. We were probably 10 and 12 or 12 and 14 at the time. But we couldn’t make any noise because Mom and Dad were sitting in the family room. So we were having a “silent fight”! One of us grabbed a steak knife and tried to slice the other’s hand, it’s been so long now I don’t remember who did what. (When she reads this story she may regain her memory quickly!)
To retaliate, one of us tried to hold the other’s hand under hot water. Un-BEE-LEEVE-Able! Finally, we started giggling. We weren’t very vicious. Actually, I cannot remember too many physical battles between the two of us at all. But that one stands out today and always makes me LOL. Family.
Seasons. An old one was fading for me and a new one was just beginning. I was about to say, “I Do” to The Sweetheart and become a Mrs. Forever. Looking back I can’t believe how young I was. Of course you couldn’t have told me that then! My kids today have told me that at least 100 times. But it did work for us, we were happy, we did finally grow up, we stayed together, we loved each other and we loved God.
I didn’t leave my family, I gained another one. It’s amazing how close the two families have been over the years and for that I am thankful.
Parents. They have always been in the picture. No matter where I have been they have been there for me. Through thick and thin they have supported us, loved us and helped us however they could. They have adored our children and been a very vital part of their lives.
All of this from a portrait that I had to dig out of another storage box. It has weathered at least nine moves and this last one cost it a little bit. But that is what it is all about. Weathering the storms and staying together.
Families do that for each other. They endure, they persevere, they persist, and stick it out, and knowing in the end each will be there for the other.
