Family Stories

Family Stories

No one has a perfect family.  My family I have to say is about as pleasant as families come.  This statement is including my husband and all of his extended family as well.  My husband and I are both from the South.  He is from Alabama and I am from North Carolina.  I grew up in North Carolina and lived there 20 years until I joined the Air Force and met my husband Tom.  We met in Florida at the Air Force Base there.  We have been married for 21 years as of this past January.  We have three children of our own and we still sit around and talk about EVERYTHING.  One of the primary rules  in my house is "Tell the Truth."  

This blog is going to be for true stories.  I have been sharing family photos on Facebook.  Since I live in Alaska now Facebook is my connection to family and friends.  I do not live near any of them and I miss out on a lot.  This does not mean I love them less or do not want to be around them.  Before Facebook I just called a lot on the phone.  I think the web is a great forum for writing and connecting.  It allows visits real time, enables us to leave private messages that can be answered at a person's leisure, and has given me a chance to scan and share my photos digitally.

I am hoping that when I post a link to this blog I will get contributions or stories and digital photos.  I plan to make this a spring board for a much larger project.  One of my first goals is to be able to compile the material into books for each branch of family.  This is something I wanted to do mainly for my children.  

My 98 year old Aunt passed a month ago.  Mom and I were talking about the fact that she did not go to school with her other siblings.  Mom said, "it is a shame we never asked her about that."  She was a delight and so funny.  Knowing this information would add to the content of my stories in a critical way.

The blog is mainly here so stories can be recorded, added to and hopefully never lost to death or time.  These stories I write are about people who mean the world to me.  If I am the only one that ever reads this blog it will be worth putting it all down.  

My Father and Mother are not on the internet and I have been mailing them photos.  Another benefit of the blog will be that I can print off pages and send for her to enjoy.

I hope any readers will find something worthy, something they can use in this blog.

Love, 

Cindy

Dad

DAD

 

One of the first discussions I remember having with Dad was, "What is your favorite color Dad?" Answer, "my favorite color is blue."  "My favorite color is red."  Now my favorite color is green but the point is Dad has always been "true to blue."  

For instance he has purchased very few brand new vehicles in his life.  His first was a red car.  However, he bought a Ford 150 in the '80's and it is in the background of this photo.  The other truck was purchased in the 2000's and is a midnight blue.  

Dad looks like a poor fellow in this photo.  The interesting thing about this photo is that this is in the yard of the house he was born in.  Dad still owns the house.  My brother lives there now.  He is the youngest of three sons.  He belongs to an antique tractor club and has farmed this property all his life (explanation for the rusty tractor, he has a zillion of these little toys and sells the tractors he does not want to  keep).

  Dad is a genius mechanic.  The powder blue truck in the background was purchased by Dad in the '80's, sold to a cousin, bought buy Uncle Jim (Jim was not a mechanic and one of the funniest things Dad ever said to me is, "I sold this old truck and now I have to keep it running for Jim."  Then when Jim passed in 2007 he "inherited" it.  The best part of the story is that he still drives it around.

  His friends tease him that people must buy things from him because they feel sorry for him.  I seriously think all these things add to Dad's character.  My Grandfather, Dad's father, was always critical of "uppity folks."  Dad is one of the most handsome fellas I have ever known and has a lot of confidence but he sure isn't uppity!

I have only had to share Dad with one sibling, my brother.  He has been a wonderful Dad to both of us and we love him.