Sunday thoughts on Grandparents day

In my box of cards for all occasions (doesn't everyone have one of those?) I have a Grandparent's Day card that I will never send. I bought it several years ago on a whim, with the intention of sending it to my Grandmother or my Mama Mac. Sadly, I put it away and forgot all about it. And now it's too late. All my grandparents are gone. I suppose I could throw it out, it is after all a sad reminder of those I have lost. But I just can't seem to bring myself to remove it from the box. It is sad, but it is also a reminder of all I have been blessed with and where I come from. I think sometimes sadness is just another way of saying I love you and I miss you, and reminders are precious gifts, gateways to happy memories and loving hugs.

In honor of this special day I thought I would share with you a few (i.e. a lot) of pictures from my archive of family photos. Some are from my parental side, some my maternal, and a few are even from my hubby's side of the family. All of them helped to shape my life, to make me who I am. All of them blessed me.

This is my Granny Ray, my paternal great-grandmother. I don't remember a lot about her, but when I see her picture it always gives me a since of peace and love. Also, she made the BEST apple cream pie!

This one is rather blurry, it's Granny Ray, me (dressed in something polyester, no doubt) and my Mama Mac and Papa (my paternal Grandparents). My parents divorced when I was young and I didn't get to see my dad or that side of my family much, so any pictures I can get my hands on from that time are extra special to me.

I am going to switch gears for a second and introduce you to my Great-Grandmother Heise. She is the woman in the forefront of the photo with the young man in the straw hat and tie. He is my biological maternal grandfather. I never actually knew either of them, he died when my mother was still a child, she died in the late 1960's. She was a strong, independent, stubborn woman. Believe me when I say that she legacy lives on in her granddaughter and great granddaughter.

Next we have my Nanny, my other maternal great-grandmother. That's me in her lap with my Grandmother at our side. Mostly what I know of her comes more from family stories rather than memories. She was another strong willed woman. I tend to think of her as a difficult person, one who bullied her way through life. But then, who am I to judge? She lived a hard life with an alcoholic husband and still managed to raise my Grandmother and her older brother Lynn to be good, upstanding members of society. No small accomplishment for a woman of her generation.

So far it seems I have been sharing pictures of people that I didn't even really know. So, let's proceed forward a generation and introduce you to my grandparents. This is my Mama Mac and Papa on their 50th wedding anniversary. They lived out their lives in West Virginia, raising a daughter (my aunt) and a son (my Dad). Papa was a quiet man, the steady rock of our family. Mama Mac was the driving force, the one to get things done. He seem content to let her lead, but when he did take a stand she always stood with him. They were a great team. He passed away in 1988 and she in 2009.

Mama Mac teaching my cousins basketball. Had to be 1973 or '74.

Papa and Mama Mac talking on the phone. I don't know for sure who they were talking to, but I like to think it was me. As the grandchild who lived so far away in Texas and was not seen as frequently has the other grand kids I remember talking to them on the phone a lot. In any case, I love this picture!

Now we have arrived at my maternal grandparents, and things get a bit more complicated! I had 3 maternal grandfathers; Fred Heise who died when my mom was an infant; Bob Baird who adopted and raised my mom and who I called Grandaddy; and Jack McKenney, my step grandfather. Let's get started, shall we?

 This is Fred and Lurlene on their wedding day in 1942 (I think). He died in 1945 (you can read more about him here).

This is my Grandaddy Baird and Grandmother on their wedding day in 1946 or '47 (I am too lazy to double check my dates, sorry)

Grandaddy is the grandfather of my childhood. He is one my most identify as MY grandfather. We weren't especially close though. I don't think he really knew what to do with a child, we were alien to him even after raising 3 of his own. I remember he used to pick on me, asking me if I had "had my Johnson grass juice" to help me grow. Of course, the thought of drinking juice made of grass totally grossed me out! He passed away in 1991, just a few months before I got married. 

In 1996 (once again guessing because I am lazy) Grandmother married Jack and they spent several years together until his failing health forced him to move to Florida so his family could care for him. I took Grandmother out to see him a couple of times and let me tell you, watching them reunited was something beautiful to see. Jack passed away in 2010 and she passed in 2012. (I miss her most of all, she was so much more than my grandmother, she was a dear friend)

Me and her, some Christmas or other in the 70's.

 Okay, I know I have given you A LOT of pictures to look at today, and that you may be wondering "where will it end!?!". Bare with me just a little longer, I have one more set to share. This is my sweet hubby's family. In my mind no grandparents day post would be complete without them. Shorty and Imogene raised my husband and molded him into the man I love so dearly.

This is them from the 1930's or '40's

The gang's all here for this picture! This one is from the 1980's and shows my hubby (smiling boy on the right hand side in front of his grandmother) his siblings and cousins, his mom and aunt and grandparents.

This last one is one of my favorites, it is 3 generations and was taken in the early 1990's. On the left is Great-Grandad Charlton who lived to be 101. Center is my hubby, and on the left is his grandfather, Shorty.

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There you have it! The long list of the people who helped shape me and the people I love the most. In writing this I am reminded of how little I know about some of these people. It is the way of the world, the people who influence us the most in our formative years are often a mystery to us. What they impart into our lives is only a tiny piece of who they are and such a large part of who we become. I am grateful for each of these people, whether I knew them or not, for the parts of them that have shaped my life. 

Happy Grandparents Day. 

Family Pictures!!

So, NaBloPoMo for June is pretty much a bust for me. I haven't even glanced at the prompts since the first week. I am working on getting myself back on track and out of the grip of anxiety, I haven't even thought about writing prompts until this morning. Maybe this weekend I will take a look at them and see if I can find one or two I want to write about....

For today though, how would you like to see some old family photos? Showing off pictures is fun AND it is a great way for me to not have to write too much. I know it's the lazy way but I am okay with that!

My Grandfather Fred Heise as a small boy. I love this love picture

My Grandmother, Lurlene, as a baby.

My mom, playing on the beach in Galveston

ME, with my Grandmother, Lurlene, and my Granddaddy, Bob.

My dad....

Me with my baby sister, she was (is) such a cutie!

One of my favorite pictures of my Mama Mac and Papa! :)

Okay, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope you have a beautiful day! Thank you for stopping by! :)

For Lorraine

Oh, I am really struggling with this post. I know what I want to say but I just can't find the right combination of words. Everything I write just sounds flat to me, I just can't seem to find the spark to make my words come alive. I am tempted to give up, to just post a quick picture or quote and move on. But this is a special day and I wanted to tell you about it. Well, tell you about her.

This is Lorraine.

Isn't she beautiful? She is my stepmother. Well, technically she stopped being my stepmother around 1996 when she and my dad divorced. But in my heart she will always be my stepmother. It doesn't really matter what her marriage license said, she is mine.

Today is her birthday, she would have been 58. She passed away almost 3 years ago from breast cancer. It seems insanely wrong that she is no longer here. She was far too young, had far too much living left to do.

This woman had a huge impact on my life. She is the mother of my two beautiful sisters. Every summer and every other Christmas when I stepped off the plane she was there, ready and willing to take on this obnoxious, stubborn, difficult child. She never failed to treat me like one of her own. She gave the gift of acceptance. I never realized what a precious gift that was until much later in life.

Like I said, I don't have the words to really explain what her presence in my life has meant to me. I only know that I was very very blessed to have her for as long as I did.

Happy Birthday Lorraine, I love you. Thanks for everything. 

Heise Family History

Back on Memorial Day I told you a little bit about my Grandfather, Fred Heise. Fred died very young and was an only child, so I know next to nothing about his life. I wish I did. I wish I had asked more questions, collected whatever stories there might have been about the kind of man he was. 

I do know a few things, Fred was an only child, born when his parents were solidly middle aged (this was in 1921, mind you) and had given up on having children. As the unexpected and only son, he was doted on. Spoiled. I imagine this would have made him a difficult man in later years, had there been later years. I know that Fred's father died when he was still fairly young and that his mother was a force to be reckoned with. A strong willed, independent woman who was accustomed to being in charge. She was also the first woman chiropractor in the state of Texas (neat little tidbit). My mother remembers her as a woman who was very strong in her opinions, one of them being that chiropractic care could cure just about anything. Apparently this led to some problems between her and my Grandmother when she tried to treat my mother's asthma. I can't imagine that, can you??

Like I said, I don't know much about Fred or the family history of the Heise's. But I do have pictures. My grandmother saved them for my mother, who passed them on to me. I am the one in the family with a real passion for photos. I am not much of a photographer (point and shoot is my way) but I love pictures. I love the chance to look into the past, to catch a glimpse of how it used to be. Over the course of the month I will share some of my favorite family pictures with you and tell you what little I know about the people in them. How about we start now? 

Fred is the young man, his mother Fannie is just behind him.

I love this picture because of all the different transportation shown in it. A bike, a horse and buggy, a car, and way in the back a train.

Fred in his goat drawn cart.

Now I better run, I still have to get ready to face my work day. I hope you enjoyed this tiny peek into my family history, such as it is. 

Have a blessed and beautiful day! 

Just a reminder...