Week 4: Favorite Photo

This week’s theme in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Favorite Photo. This would have been easy but I did complete this topic last year and you can see that post here.

This year’s took a little more thought as I had photos that I liked but wasn’t sure if the living would want to be shown on this blog? And they aren’t relatives I can just quickly email and say “do you mind?” Which reminds me, I need to reconnect.

So below is this years photo. I will never forget how excited I was when I found this photo in December 2019. I was at my dad’s, he had found some “important” papers and I was hoping it included his dad’s death certificate (it did not) but I found this gem of a photo.

This photo made my day because for me it was the first time I’d ever seen myself with both of my grandparents. My grandfather ended up passing away 5 months after this photo was taken. I’ve been told by so many that my grandfather adored me. I wish I had some recollection of him. I vaguely remember running out of my room the day this picture was taken as my sister pulled the sheet off of the kitchen set we both received for Christmas. I played with that set until I was in at least 8th grade and even then it was a secret because I knew how uncool it would be if my classmates knew. My own children have played with this same set, it’s still in my basement as I type this, though they never played with it as I did.

But I’ve digressed. Along with Leroy Blair thinking I was the greatest thing since sliced bread (rumor has it he would always wake me up when he came to our house to visit) I’ve been told by many that I was like him. For example, I apparently have the same feet as him (that’s not necessarily a good thing) and that I was just as stubborn (that is up for debate).

We all know how much I love my grandma. No one gave better back scratches (and she would do it for so long – I smile just thinking about it), and she just loved me for me. That’s how grandma’s should be. And I’m sure I’ve stated it at some point on here that not too long before my mom passed away unexpectedly, she told me how every day I reminded her more and more of my Grandma Blair.

Best. Compliment. Ever.

So to see myself here, on a couch I loved simply because I enjoyed how the stripes made such great roads for my MatchBox cars, or even my Fisher Price people cars, and the picture that I wonder what ever happened to it. It was a print of 3 boats and I just automatically assumed it was the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria that Columbus used to sail across the ocean blue (yes, I was even a history geek back then).

But even more importantly, to see myself between my grandparents was just wonderful. Christmas is my favorite holiday and to see this just makes me smile. And we all need to smile.

So if you have a photo you would like to share – participate in this weeks 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks!