Cles

I hunted for this picture for years. My mom had a copy. There was never a time when I didn't see the joy of the face of Cles when he saw his first wagon. It is almost the same grin he has in this picture. I set him in the wagon, and we pulled him around the house This was on his first birthday in 1975.

Opened boxes are in the foreground, and his new shirts and outfits are hanging over the rail on the right of the wagon.

As the only grandchild, it had to be fun to have everyone in the family make a fuss like they did.

In the picture at the right, the old couch appears behind Cles. He is riding his horse he received for his first Christmas. When you pulled back the yellow reins, the toy made a whinny. This was the same toy that Lydia liked.

We had some tree trimmers give us a very inexpensive bid on trimming the massive tree outside our first house. After working all day and into the early evening until it started to get dark, we fixed a meal. They only stayed long enough to eat, but one of their children about Lydia's age sat on the horse she had claimed ever since Cles believed he was too big to ride it.

I watched Lydia walk carefully up the the child, stand by him, look at everyone, and with one quick blow with her little elbow, the child rolled over the back of the toy--heels first before landing on the floor. The little boy was too shocked to cry. It all happened so quickly. He probably marveled at the little innocent looking girl with superpowers. All the while Lydia stood looking at everyone, almost asking them what had happened.

I still tease her about it.

My sister Ann took this picture of Cles, wearing an old hat I wore to church in the 50's before I started school. We have two of these, each with a slightly different pose.

When our kids were still very small, Ann and I always had a pinion pine for a tree. I was a tradition in my family. Ann put up with my having a "forest" in her front room, and when she teased me about it, she grinned her typical Annie grin.

I remember telling Ann not to take this picture, but I also remember her telling me that we would really like this some day. She was right. After decades of watching your kids hang all the decorations in the same small section of tree and then notice grandchildren do it too, it is fun to see.

It's nice that she rarely does what I tell her.

I'm sorry, but of all the new pictures I found, this one is my favorite of Cles. I remember someone putting grandpa's boots on him, and I remember something that made him angry, but I don't remember what it was. The grandkids had it very good when they with grandma and grandpa, and when they cried, the would say the same thing that my Great Grandma Thomas said whenever we were like this, "Oh, the little dear has got a headache."