Mi Familia

I have an older brother who recently began a My Space page, and I just discovered that he recently posted some very old photographs on it. It didn't take me long to decide I had to post one of them here. The picture below was taken in the later 70's -- can you tell?! I think my brother's plaid jacket (with baby-poop-yellow turtleneck) gives the first clue. In it is my mother's immediate family, as well as my dad, brother and me.

Now, I'm not certain where the western theme comes from. The majority of these people were from Half Moon Bay, CA. Were cowboy hats a hot look in the bay area, circa 1978? I really wouldn't have thought so, but what do I know? I'm the one in the checked barn-dance dress! When this picture was taken, I believe the four of us had just moved back to CA from Texas, where we'd been stationed for two years. Perhaps these lovely items all came back with us.

The two other ladies in the picture are my mother and my grandmother. I think my mother is the only one that pulls off "timeless beauty" here. The rest of them have a serious time stamped look, but not her. I love this picture of my mom. As for my sweet, darling grandmother...I can't tell you how many pictures we have of her that are just like this one -- with her looking at ME instead of the camera! They're all over the place! It's actually something my friend Mark and I realized years ago, and I smile every time I discover it again. I think we can all clearly see I was her favorite.

Hmmm...the fellas at the top. First, my grandfather, who was the best "Grampa" there ever was. He served in World War II, and was an airplane mechanic for United most of his life. He could build anything, had a kind and gentle nature, and best of all, would always buy us something at the store when we asked. My favorite purchases: Hubba Bubba Gum, Bonkers or Big League Chew. (These all came from a cute little store in the mountains, where it turns out my hubby's brother was the butcher for years. I was probably walking right by my future brother-in-law all the time and never knew it.)

The gentleman in the butterfly collared shirt is my very tall Dad. (I can thank him for all six feet of me.) He's a retired Lt. Colonel of the Army, and thanks to him we had the opportunity to live in a lot of fantastic places and meet some wonderful people. The other two gents were my mom's brothers, Billy and Hank. Both were opinionated, and sometimes loud, but they definitly had one important thing in common: they were fun uncles! We've lost both of them, unfortunately, but I have wonderful memories of both.

On the day this picture was taken, we also did a large family portrait with all of my grandmother's siblings and their kids, etc. In that picture I'm sitting on the floor with my cousins, holding a large pink stuffed poodle. I have a cousin who "claims" that she can recall me, with poodle in hand, telling her to shut up, and then pushing her off the stage. I really think that kind of accusation is unwarranted. If I was going to push someone off of a stage, I would put the poodle down!