Resau Cousins Remember....

Last week was a long week at work. Well every week is a long week at work...in it's own way..but then that's work. I came home to letters from everyone...and a small envelope from cousin liz. She had sent me recently a gift certificate for starbucks...and I thought oh my...see must think i live for coffee. I do but that's another chapter or coffee blog. Inside were three pictures...all from times in my life when I wasn't there, or wasn't involved! So I have no memories of these photos, instead they are like puzzle pieces to my life. Pieces I didn't know I was missing...
This one is dad, young, I am thinking before WW2. There are two young gals in the background on the road. I don't know where the picture is taken. I chuckle. Even then Dad liked his jackets and his hats!

I left home for college in 1969 and by January 1973 I was married and headed to Minnesota to live. During those years my parents sold the 2.5 acre homestead in Hanover and had moved to Sharpsburg Maryland to 50 acres. Here my brothers had their middle school, high school years. While I visited, I was never familar with the home or the area. I missed these years with my brothers. I had forgot how young they were, or the fact that mom had taken a job to help pay for the loan on the farm. (Mom had rarely worked while I grew up...how different my brother's teen years were to mine). In this photo, my youngest brother Lester, Liz's mom, Aunt Elizabeth and mom (in her nursing home uniform) pose for a photo. Someone is working in the garden in the back. How do I know this photo is from July 1973. The very faint date mark on the back of the photo....otherwise I would have just had to guess.

This is the final photo in the envelope. I love this photo because it's a sweet picture of mom, dad and Lester. It's at the front steps of Liz's childhood home. I loved that home...and always loved coming to visit there. I always remembered the door with the long shutters...but i had forgot about the bricks. Aren't the steps and sidewalk wonderful...so welcoming...
This picture is January 1977... obviously not a winter photo from Minnesota.
So thank you Liz for these photos, these chapters. Sometimes it's the moments you weren't there that you treasure. And yes, I made a cup of coffee....that will be me sitting back and enjoying the photos, imagining the visits and having a sip of java.