Family Photos.  

I have a couple of blogging friends, who have recently posted old family photos on their blog.  Old family photos are irreplaceable treasures.  

While I enjoy seeing family photos, I really am quite saddened by not having a single one of my parents, myself and my siblings together.   What might have happened to them?  I am still trying to figure this out.    

I have plenty of pictures of my mom and dad together, or my mom and dad with my brothers, but NONE of our entire family together.  

                                         My Dad, my brother Joe, ME and my brother David

I say I can't imagine where they went, deep in my heart I have a clue.   When my older sister and her husband were killed in a car wreck, back in 1978, my parents became the guardians of their kids.  My youngest niece suffered a severe brain injury, and although she survived, the trauma has left her with a mindset of maybe a 10 year old.   

I say this to say......she has the most loving heart and her favorite thing to do is to give things to people.   After my mom passed, she lived with my dad for about eight years until he became ill.  She now lives in a WONDERFUL home for disabled adults.

         

                                                  LOL.... a little bit older here!

Having lived with my parents, she was around the older generation of our family a good bit of time.  She was a favorite of some of our aunts and cousins. Tammy would help them in small ways by working on  our family heritage and genealogy.   My dad was the baby of 15 kids.   They would all compare family pictures while working on this project.    

The older generation of my dad's family has all passed away, which means, I have no way of knowing if Tammy gave any of our family photos to other family members.  Most likely, my dad would never have even known if she did or not because he was experiencing signs of dementia.   Giving things to others has always been her happy place.  When she comes to my house for a weekend, she ALWAYS brings me some little something, even it's a stuffed animal she has had for years.  If anyone expressed that they loved a particular photo, I am almost sure that she would have given it to them.  

My niece Tammy and our granddaughter Mylee Jo.

Mylee's school is so generous to invite Tammy's home community,  to play a special Olympics game with them each year in Basketball as well as Softball.   This means so much to these mild to moderate intellectual and developed adults with disabilities.   

When we cleaned out my mom and dad's home, there were soooo many things that we could not find.  Photos being one of them.  Even the framed photos of my great grandparents. 😪  I'm afraid that our family photos have been lost forever!  

This truly saddens me!  I would encourage you to all (which I know you do) to treasure your family photos.  

Up until a few years ago, I was obsessed with having family pictures made around Christmas time.  Some are funny....real funny, but I wanted that assurance that my entire family was in the photo.  Now days, it is difficult to get everyone home at the same time in order to get family pictures.  

I may not have those older photos, taken by antique equipment and by skilled photographers, but I do have pictures that I hope will hold significant value for generations to come.  

I do appreciate every single picture and photo that I have of family.  

This is a great day to have a great day!

Shug