Giddie-Yup

I have an aunt left from my mom's side.  The story is that my middle name, Kay, was for her middle name, Katherine.  As much as I don't like 'Sandy' I am forever grateful that my parents didn't label me 'Shirley' after her, even though she is my favorite aunt.  Of course I have an issue that even though I had a bunch of aunts, I never knew them very well.  Maybe I would have liked them all, who knows.  But my parents left Colorado during the war and ended up in Buffalo where I was born and we mouldered for my next 18 years until I could plan my break-out.

Anyway, Aunt Shirley keeps in touch with me still, even though she is into her 80's now.  She has a great attitude and is happy and positive even when I know she has things to be low about.  I always enjoy hearing from her, but she no longer has internet, so it's only phone calls now.  Recently she called to get the Florida address because she had a surprise for me, and a few days later this arrived,

proof positive of my Colorado roots!  Yeah, that's me even before the glasses!  I can remember that riding thing like I just climbed out of it yesterday.  Guess that's like a duck imprinting on a dog because it's the first thing they see when they hatch and think it's mom.  Wooden horses, a team of them!  And ridden with a sense of style-  note the ironed puff sleeves on the dainty dress.  Maybe this was my last dress, probably the last one before the one-shot* wedding dress anyway.

This picture means the world to me because all of my childhood pictures were accidentally tossed out when I closed and sold off my parent's house.  I lost boxes and boxes of slides, all the albums my mom so carefully kept, and shoeboxes of photos that hadn't yet been filed.  It was particularly painful to lose my brother's pictures since I didn't have many anyway from his childhood, but one cannot dwell, one must move on.  Right?  Yeah, but save for this and only a few others, all I have are 'mental pictures'.  Don't know what I will leaf through in my old age looking for memories!

So, now, when you have the chance, scan your photos that you want to keep, and stick them on a disk for safety.  And make sure and label them as to who is who because even though you know, your kids probably won't.  Make copies for the whole family while you're at it.  And it you are related to me, send me one too!


*not to be confused with shot-gun, please.