Genealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.
It's my brother's birthday! And I've managed to put together a short (random) timeline of photos from over the years.
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| July 1963 |
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| Circa 1964-1965 (with me) |
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| 1967 (with me) |
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| 1971 |
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| 1990's |
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| 2001 (with our father and sister) |
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| Early 2000's (with our stepnephew) |
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| Circa 2010's |
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| Circa 2010's (with our father) |
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| 2016 |
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| 2018 (with his son, wife, daughter, and me) |
These are photos from the bonanza that my sister sent me a year ago. (Wow! Has it really been that long already?) I'm not sure about the year. Based on the apparent age of my youngest cousin in the photos, I was guessing about 1998, but her grandmother thinks it was 1994 or 1995. I'm actually leaning toward at least 1996, based on other information.
This was at my father's house in Mary Esther, Florida. I don't know if the family get-together was actually on Christmas, but it seems to have been around that time, so close enough.
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| The Christmas tree, in all its glory |
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| I didn't know my father had a train set-up |
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| My father, Lynn, and my stepmother, Ginny |
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| Aunt Dottie, someone behind her we can't see, a woman I don't know, and my cousin Pattie |
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| Ginny and Pattie |
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| My cousins Patricia (Stacey's daughter) and Stacey (Pattie's daughter) |
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| Pattie and Dottie |
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| Four generations: Stacey, Patricia, Dottie, Pattie |
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| And now with Pattie facing the camera! |
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| The feast table before the feast (I can't seem to find a photo of the table laden with food, though) |
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Even though I lived in California and my brother lived in Maryland, I used to be guaranteed I would see him at least once every three years, because he would travel to Reno, Nevada for the big amateur bowling tournament that took place in the National Bowling Stadium that was constructed for that very purpose. I would reserve my timeshare in Reno so he would have a place to stay, and I got to see my brother. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.
Now that he's married and has kids, I guess he doesn't have the same amount of time for bowling. On the other hand, I don't live in California anymore, nor do I have the timeshare. But I looked forward to seeing him and watching him bowl.
So to celebrate National Bowling Day, here's a photo of him bowling. I don't know what year it's from, unfortunately (maybe he does). He bowled left-handed, just like Earl Anthony.
