memories

When I was almost 4 years old, my Aunt Lynda (my mother's sister) and I travelled from Amarillo to Little Rock on June 2, 1962.  My baby brother, David, had been born on March 31st.  Rumor has it that I became AWFUL once David came home from the hospital...I can't imagine.  Supposedly I whined all day long in a means to draw attention to myself.  After my mother could no longer stand me, she sent me away!

We rode the train to Little Rock and flew back to Amarillo.  Lynda recently told me that she was extremely nauseated on the train.  She was "ok" as long as she didn't look out the window.  However, everything I saw (horses, cows, houses, rocks, you name it), I yelled "lookie, lookie" and she would forget and look out the window, thus another run to the bathroom.  Thank you, Lynda, for not dropping me off at the first stop!

Oh my goodness, how things changed once I stepped on Arkansas dirt.  All of the sudden, I was the ADORED child, as you can tell by looking at these pictures.  Not only did I have TWO sets of grandparents at my disposal, I had Aunt Ann (the diary giver) and Uncle James (my mother's brother) to dote on me.  Score!  Oh, and the REALLY sweet part?  I was the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  Double score!! 

Adored - synonyms: be crazy about, be nuts about, be smitten with, cherish, dote on, flip over, treasure.

Yes, I was all of these and more!

As I was scanning these pictures, I noticed familiar writing on the back of each picture.  It was Granny's way of keeping up with how many copies she needed to have made and, of course, who to send them to.  Most of them have the following notes: 

6/2/62 (Granny's pictures were ALWAYS dated)
H & E
P & C
O & P
V & T
JK & JA
MJ & D
Cairo

So, she ordered 7 copies and sent them to all of her siblings (Helen, Paul, Polly), to my other grandparents (Vance & Tennie), to my Uncle James and Aunt Jo Ann, to Mary Jo and Don (my parents), and to Cairo (Aunt Winnie and Grandma Essie...my Dad's grandmother and his aunt).

with Granny Croft

                                                                     with Grandpa Croft

with Aunt Ann

with Granny Croft, again

with Ann and Granny

                                            with Aunt Lynda and Uncle James Kelly

                                            with Ann, Lynda, Granny and James Kelly

            Possibly my favorite picture ever...snuggled between Granny and Grandpa

Me, after (obviously) soaking up some much-needed attention!