I scanned another photo album tonight and enjoyed some more memories.

This picture of my parents’ house from April 1977 is a sad memory.  It was the day of my brother Denny’s funeral and my dad had the flag at the house at half-staff.  After the burial, I was the one who raised the flag to full staff with tears in my eyes.

 

A few weeks later, there was a celebration with happier memories:  Aunt Shirley and Uncle Richard’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  I was the flower girl in their wedding and, at the party, they took pictures of everyone who had been in the wedding party.  Here I am with the ring bearer, whose name I don’t remember.

 

The rest of the story is that, when the band played the Grand March at the wedding and everyone was kissing his/her partner, I followed their lead and kissed the ring bearer.  The wedding photographer must have had his eyes on us to catch this brief moment.  Judging by the ring bearer’s degree of participation, it looks like I was a leader, even at the age of five.

It’s strange, but I don’t remember my flower girl dress being this pretty.   After the wedding,  my mom let me wear it to play dress-up.  I wore it to tatters, and that’s how I remember it.

 

In February 1978, we headed for Disney World.  Here are Jeff, Kathy, and Thom on Lookout Mountain in Chatanooga, TN.  Standing on the mountaintop, Jeff proclaimed–with all the enthusiasm of a six-year-old–that he must be the highest person in the whole world.

 

This picture from Thom’s second birthday in May 1978 shows how he ate as a baby.  First, he’d put food in his mouth; then he’d stuff his fingers in his mouth while he chewed.  Look at that red hair!

 

Fifteen days after we took that picture of Thom, Kari was born.  She had Ted’s dark hair and, right in the center of her head, there were about 20 strands of white hair.  Can you see them?

 

This is what I saw the morning after I came home from the hospital with Kari.  It’s one of my all-time favorite photos.

 

Another all-time favorite was taken in August 1978 when we visited my sister-in-law, Bev, in Upper Michigan.  The picture includes our four kids and their cousins, Cheryl and Eric.  I’ve always called this “Can you find the six kids on the sofa?”

 

Tonight’s photo album ended in November 1978.  We had just bought a new car–a 1978 Chevy Caprice Classic.  The new I-70 Blanchette Bridge was finally finished and scheduled to open the next day, so we drove the new car onto the end of the new bridge and took a picture.  That’s Kari and me in the driver’s window.   Raise your hand if you remember that you’d get that glow on the right side of the photo if you were at the very end of the filmstrip.