I was looking through the photos on my Photobucket album when I came across this photo:

The photo was taken on Saturday morning, November 29, 1986, at RT’s and my home in Tennessee.  It is a photo of my father and mother with five of their granddaughters.  When the photo was taken, we had no idea that in less than a week my father would die suddenly and we would all be gathered again  - this time in Georgia - for his funeral.  This is the last photo we have of my father.  When I see a meaningful photo such as this, I immediately start thinking not only of the events surrounding that photo, but also of all that has happened since the photo was taken.

The oldest granddaughter in the photo is my daughter.  She’s now married and has two little girls of her own.  The youngest granddaughter in the photo - the one my mother is holding (the daughter of my younger non-blogging brother, David) - just got married this past year.   She and her husband live on a farm in Alabama.  The curly-haired blonde immediately in front of my daughter is now a teacher/missionary in Kenya (and yes, with the situation in Kenya, we are all worried about her).  She’s the daughter of my non-blogging sister, Debi.  The one sitting in my father’s lap (The daughter of my sister, Beth) with her hands clasped in front of her face is now living on her own in California.  And the granddaughter standing beside the chair holding her doll is the daughter of my brother Terrell.  She is now living in New York City - working as a nanny and hoping to work in musical theater.

Over twenty-one years have passed.  Four new grandchildren have been born since my father’s death, along with lots of great-grandchildren.  My father had such a robust attitude towards life, and he loved his children and grandchildren.  I would give anything to share with him the joy I feel for my own grandgirls.  No major point here - just the observation that life goes very quickly.   

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Family, Photography, Remembering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.