Family... "One of nature's masterpieces." - Geo. Santayana

Our beginnings....

Elexander & Georgiabelle

Great Grandpa & Great Grandma

Elex & Georgiabelle's Oldest Daughter
Esebelle With Her Four Children

Grandpa (Arnold) & Grandma's (Esebelle)

With Their Oldest Son Harold's Daughter, ME!

We are unique unto ourselves. But we are shaped by the things most important in our lives, our family.

We have our memories... our triumphs... our sorrows... our absolute belief that brown cows gave chocolate milk 'cuz Grampa said so.

Laughing and running... the summers seemed to last for years...

"Auntie Rena you're my prettiest Aunt!"

"Grandma can you tie this blanket so I can have a cape too?" "Ow-Owie! Timmy pushed me down!" "But she kicked me first!" "Okay... I'm sorry." "Me too. Wanna go look for night crawlers?" "Heck yeah!"

Pine pitch... tall grass... Dolly has the softest ears of any dog ever.

Skinned knees, bruises, skeeter bites, "My God you've got potatoes growing in those ears!"

"How in the heck did you get it to do that!?" "You did WHAT!!?!"

"Who gave her gum!?" "Get the scissors... I'm going to have to cut this out!"

"Gramma, can I have a cookie? Gramma? Can we build a fort?" Grampa can we go fishin'?" "Grampa, Hughie said he was gonna eat a worm!" "I got one Grampa! I GOT ONE!" It's a BIG one isn't it Grampa?" Get the camera because she got her first two-inch sunfish!

Sunburns, camp fires... tents that leaked and who cares 'cause we get to play out in the rain at the 40 anyway. "Mom! I gotta wood tick!"

Spending hours playing in the woods, there wasn't an inch of the woods we didn't know. Listening to our parents reminisce about their childhood antics... and learning the really good stuff too!

"Mom? Can we jump off the tree? Dad!? Mom said ask you if we can jump off the tree? No... into the water... we won't get hurt! Honest...!"

"Oh... okay. He said no. Hey... where's Gramma?"

SSSSsnnnnnAAAAkkkkkEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"That's where Tommy shot his deer!"

"Dad! Can we ride on the hood?" All right!!!" Hang on! Here comes the hill!!"

"Mom! Johnny dropped his hot dog on the ground. Can he still ea... nevermind."

"Gramma can I sleep in your camper with you tonight?"

"ALL RIGHT!! I GOT UP! I GOT UP ON THE SKIS!!!" (Couldn't have done it without you Tim!)

A few grandchildren added to the ranks.... hehehe... don't ya' just love little brothers?

"No really! It lives in the bay! Can't you hear it?!"

"Uh-uh... Carmen told him that!"

Calling the owls over from across the lake... "Oh Daddy... what makes it foxfire?" "Dad? Do these kinda bugs bite?" "ow."

"Mom... is that a mou...?" "Dad! There's a mouse in the camper!" "No... she went down by Birdie." "Whoa.... it was in there a minute ago... Oh there it is!" "Hey look! There's two!"

"Hey! How come Mom says she's goin' home?!"

"Now don't forget... yes, Dad got the mouse out and don't say anything about the bat in the outhouse."

Today... we gathered. It wasn't anybody's funeral... nor a wedding. Just a niece, one of my cousins saying, "It shouldn't be like this! Why do we have to wait until those events?"

Of sixteen grandchildren... the baby of us all just turned 40! Some have children and grandchildren now... kids in college, kids with kids and some with one on it's way!

How did that happen?

Today we gathered... watching the little boys and girls running around in the sunshine on a perfectly beautiful Indian Summer day... Our cousin's children... their grandchildren... watching the sun shining on their hair... the laughter, the shrieks of play. Did we sound like that?

Life in slow motion as a memory slides into the front of your thoughts... "My God he looks just like his Dad did at that age!".

Watching them chase one another... laughing, throwing Nerf balls...

"Oh gees! Remember that time that one got thrown in the fire!?" "Oh yeah... they could see the fire across the lake!"

"No joke... who needs gasoline for a fire when you can burn a Nerf ball?"

"Cripes... it's amazing that any of us lived through our childhoods!"

A day designed to truly enjoy 'one of nature's masterpieces'...

And dear God, what a masterpiece it was.....