My Annie and Her Family

This picture is how I remember Ned and Connie, when Ann and I were in high school. They were always with Ann. You had to recognize what a good sister she was, because they not only enjoyed being with her, but she also liked having them with her, riding around or running errands or having fun--it really did not matter. She took them with her.

I had a different view toward my sisters. If my parents sent them with me to the movies, I told the two of them to sit anywhere but near where I was in the theater. But saying something like, "Get the hell away from me," was out of the question, because the older one used events like that as currency.

"I'm going to tell mom and dad," she would say. My two advantages were her very short memory and her tendency toward avarice. If she didn't forget, I could buy my way out of trouble. I could usually count on the first one, yet I didn't mind the second one either. It just gave me a reason to pound the hell out of her when I had the chance.

I also knew I married into a family with an outrageous sense of humor. When Ann told me the name of their horse, Tony the Pony, it made me smile. We had all kinds of names for our horses, depending on how long it took to catch them, or if they bit us or stepped on us.

When we used one of those "special" names, the horse would widen the eyes and rear back a bit.

This picture is one of Ann at 4-H camp. I can joke about everything, but when it comes to my sweetheart, her pictures make me smile.

The same characteristics of her that appear in my grandchildren please me too, like enjoying the camera as my Annie does in this picture.

I still don't like having my picture taken, not ever. It is not that I think someone taking the photo is going to steal my soul, because I can't really explain why I feel like I do.

At the point in my life where I am now, I just feel a deep concern for others. I wouldn't want them to carry the large and heavy wide angle lens it would take to get an image of me.

This picture is important for me for a number of reasons: Ann was in college at the time, and she had been home helping her dad in the store. It is obvious in the picture how much she enjoyed being with her family. The loyalty she felt toward her mom, her dad, her grandmas and her brothers and sisters will always be amazing to me. And besides, I also thought she was a babe. She still is.