A new blogginess: The Photo of the Day
Every so often, I will post a photo and make a few comments about it.
This is how the blog started, after all, way back in 2009.
So, here we go. The first Photo of the Day, sort of.
This photo comes from the year 1956.
In 1956, a gallon of gasoline cost around 30 cents. The cost of a postage stamp was 3 cents for domestic mail. And a loaf of bread would run you about a quarter. This was the year that the Polio vaccine became widely available to the public. And if you turned on the radio, you’d likely hear Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis. The Price is Right was one of the most watched TV shows, along with The Ed Sullivan Show.
But. On Christmas morning, 1956, this is what it looked like inside the house at 134 E. Bruce Avenue in Dayton, Ohio. My mom, Lucy, normally took the photographs, but this time, my dad, Paul, was behind the lens.
These are my four oldest siblings. That’s my brother Ed on the left, with the six-shooter on his hip and his foot firmly planted on the electric-powered train track. Neither of these behaviors is indicative of his personality today. Sue is next to him, carefully holding up some game board. She doesn’t look terribly excited about Santa’s choice of board games for her. My mom is next, with my brother Jerry on her lap. He, too, is wearing a six-shooter. And that truly is indicative of his current personality. And finally, my oldest sister, Ann, who isn’t sporting any of her gifts. Perhaps she got that traveling trunk on the floor. Or the discarded saxophone right next to it. My guess is that she got some books.
I wouldn’t be along for another eight years. But I’m in the photo, there. Right ovary. Egg number 387,002. It’s a miracle I’m here, really. Two girls would emerge from the left ovary, Jane and Julie, before me. Two and four years away, they were.
As families go, I won the lottery. I love those people. I did back in 1956, and I still do today.
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“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
― Mother Theresa
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“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
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“The past is never where you think you left it.”
― Katherine Anne Porter
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A new Photo of the Day. It begins today.
