My Thursday Thoughts . . .

Well, here I am and Thursday is almost over.  I truly started out early in the day to get this post done, but,  you know, I just have a hard time staying focused sometimes!  My thoughts just kept jumping around, and I had a hard time deciding what to talk about, not that I lack for things to talk about, but blogging about them is a whole different story.  

I will start by talking about the photo above.  I love this photo, it reminds me of my baby sister and myself...she will always be my baby sister, even though she is only 16 months younger than me. She had black hair when she was born, and has always been the really cute one, with beautiful eyes, graceful hands, thick dark hair, and a gentle voice, that you really have to listen for, and a gentle smile to go with it.   I just love her.  Although we look very much alike, we are so different in so many ways.  Just yesterday, someone asked us if we were twins . . . we get that a lot!  I also have an older sister, she also has dark hair, dark eyes that are so big and beautiful, but sad at the same time. She has always been so pretty, a gentle woman with an old soul, and always the wise one.  I'm not as close to her as I once was, and that makes me so sad.  I love her as well.  

I was the one with, thin blonde hair, and blue eyes.  The one who was always in trouble because I just could not sit still, or listen!  But somehow I survived my childhood, my teenage years...eeekkkk, and adulthood . . . almost.   Below is an OLD photo of my family, minus my father, he must have been the photographer, he loved taking pictures.  

You can see my maternal grandparents on the back row, my mother holding my baby brother.  My big sister, me and next to me my little sister, with her hands on my cousins shoulders.  Behind her is my big brother and behind him, my aunt.  You guessed it, I am smack dab in the middle - the middle child . . . that explains everything!

This photo just tells me so much, that only the mind knows through memories and time.  I loved my grandfather, he was gentle, kind, handsome and always wore a hat, and my grandmother with curlers in her hair, that was kind of normal for her as well.  She always liked to look pretty, and would probably be embarrassed that I have this photo on my blog.  Both of them were very tall, my mother was 5'11", and they were both taller than she was.  My mother has on an apron, I loved aprons, and she always wore one, isn't she beautiful?  She's still beautiful at 89 years.   My mother is holding my baby brother, who has been gone now for 3 years...he was adorable and loved by everyone.   My sister with her cat-eye glasses which she hated and I envied!  Me, wearing blue, my mother's favorite color for me.  My little sister looking like a little papoose (she could always get a better tan!!), I'm sure she has her hands on my cousins shoulders to keep him still, he was always moving...still is. My older brother, wearing a turtle neck...he loved turtlenecks.  My aunt, who was with us all the time, she was more like a sister, and still is.  And that old green Pontiac in the background.  I loved that old green Pontiac, and oh, how my father loved that car as well.  The memories that just came flooding back as I looked at this photo, are almost more than I can bear!  So many vacations to the coast, with 5 children, my parents and my grandfather, my father's father.  The car was packed with children, it was hot and stuffy, but the radio was always on, because my father loved music, even when it was mostly static, thus, my love for music.  

It looks like I took after my mother's side of the family, most of them were light complected, and very tall. . . I only got the light part.  When I was small, my hair was very thin and very blond, and as I grew older it turned darker, but it was never as dark as my sister's hair.   I had my DNA done at Christmas time, and found out I am 66% British, 16% Scandinavian and 11% Irish, that could have something to do with it as well I suppose.   

Now it just wouldn't be fair to not show you a photo of my father.  He was so handsome!  I miss him with every beat of my heart.  He passed away over 30 years ago, when I was a young mother, oh, how I miss his smile!  Hopefully I got a little of him...I did get his blue eyes, and hopefully his spunk! 

I have been so nostalgic lately, most likely because of the weather, the changing of the seasons, the shorter days, who knows . . . maybe the eclipse, they said it would do strange things to folks.  I'm not sure what it is, but I am so glad that I have memories to draw from when I am sad and lonely.  

Becky Aligada said:

"Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely."

She's so right . . . I'm so thankful for memories tonight!

Hugs and Love,

Barb