Family of Origin

My family of origin consists of four people. My mother, my father, my brother, and me.

Try as we might, we cannot escape one another.



This is what we all looked like in 1983 at my wedding. That's my mother, Glenda, my father, Loren, me, and my brother, Loren Jr.

I turned out to be the shortest. I am the older child by three years.

This is the way I always remember my family. I am generally surprised when I see them looking otherwise, either in person or in photos. I guess my memory stopped when I turned 20.



The above is a shot of my mother in 1993. She would have been 49 years old in this photo. She passed away in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. She was 56.

She hated to have her likeness taken and I was surprised when she posed for this picture. She gave us all this picture as a Christmas present that year.



I took this photo of my father in December 2007. He remarried that year. We do not have the best relationship and I don't see him very often. It is just as well.



This is my brother in December 2007. I caught him off guard while he was driving my niece around in a parade float; hence the lollipop in his mouth. We talk on the phone a few times a month. He has two children and a step son and I make a point of calling to ask about the kids. I hope we are getting a little closer. Maybe time does heal.



This is me. This photo was taken in June 2007.

We are grown up and growing old. I have a lot of relatives with whom I am close and see more frequently than I do my family of origin. It is not something I expect will change but it is something I want to think about.

I hadn't planned to post these photos today but one of my uncles contacted me in search of pictures of my mother. I came across these photos while I was looking for something to satisfy his request.