I woke up this morning thinking about family photos.  I was trying to remember the last family photo that we have in which my mom and dad are both in the picture.  That was not near as easy as I thought it would be.  It seems that the last picture we had that we were all in was when I was about 1 year old.  Yep, that’s all I can find anyway.  I know there were other pictures done, but I have no idea where they are.

We were the family that always went to the grocery store to have our pictures done.  You may recall when photographers would set up a backdrop and some lights in the back of a grocery store and you would pre-purchase a session (usually a special price of $4.99 or something like that).  All the pictures looked about the same, no REAL expressions, genuinely fake smiles, everyone with their shoulders back and this pasty grin.  Anyway…I do recall a few of those right up into our teenage years, but Dad wasn’t in them.  He basically refused to go.  Mom would try her best to get us all there, even my older brothers, but with 6 kids, it was near impossible.

So…the only picture I can find in which we were all together was made around 1968.  ( I was going to post it but I don’t know how to work the darn scanner and Johnny isn’t home to help me).

Anyways…this led me into thoughts about my own little family and then your little families.  You see, divorce occurred in our family when I was 13.  Since then there have been no family photos that have us all together.  I never knew how much that would bother me later in life.  You can think of all the reasons that divorce is bad, but the little things…like no complete family photos, no pics of grandma & granddad together with their grand-kids, no happy family reunions of all the generations that two people loving each other make.  Sure, sometimes divorce seems to be the only way…but let me tell you, there is another way…it is putting everything into the hands of an all knowing GOD, forgiving your spouse, and making a good home for your children.  One in which they can bring your grand-kids to see you and Grandpa together.

So if you and your spouse have children, and you can find the time…go have family pictures done, do them each year until you are no longer able to.  If you can afford a professional then of course I would suggest that…but if not, take them yourself (don’t forget to ask a stranger for help you need to be in the pictures too)!  You just never know when one of you will no longer be here, or when a divorce may occur that will change the course of your family forever.  Really folks, have the family photos done, that is all the memories that you will have one day…that is all the memories that your grand-kids will have one day.  But above all else…stay married, have your children, love your grandchildren together, see your great grand-kids together, and know that all of that came from you loving one another.

Sorry if this seems to sort of ramble, sometimes my thoughts just do that.  I could organize them better, but then, well, they wouldn’t be me.

2 post in one day!  Nope, I do not have a fever, and yes, I do have other stuff I need to be doing…but I just wanted to pop back in and say one thing…

I was thinking about all of you out there and well…thank you.  I know you are busy and like me, you could find other things that need doing, but you take the time out to stop in here and read what I have haphazardly decided to write and blog about.  You bring something that feels like home back into my life everytime you comment.  Sometimes you don’t say much, and other times you say a lot.  Be it just a hello, a comment, a link to something you found interesting that you thought I would like too…heck, it just means you took the time for me to know that you are there.  That means the world to me.  You see, without you all out there taking the time, it would just be me and the computer late at night, or in the middle of the day, or even at first light.  But YOU are there, and you let me know now and then.  Thank you for sharing your busy hectic time with me!  What you take the time to say really does count and makes my day.  Even if you didn’t agree with what I said, or images I posted, you are still someone listening to me, getting to know me, and liking me enough to come back now and them.  I really do appreciate you!
And I just want you to know….I love you guys Thiiiiiiiiiiis Much!!