Sanger, CA 1976
There once was a great grandmother, Alva Bell.
Here with Kasey, me, Mother, and Kell.
There was no internet porn yet.
And Kathryn wasn't born yet.
At the time those were all the Women Bell.
*note: For those not married to Air Force fliers...
the missing man formation, usually done at memorials,
is a four-ship flight pattern with one plane missing.
Tim (Dad) has flown in close to a dozen such flights
and can rarely talk about them without tearing up.
I hope he will forgive me for being whimsical here.
5 comments:
Ah, Sanger. The location of Kjell's birth, at a motel-turned-birthing center (not a confidence-inspiring renovation, in my mind) and also the town with one of those ORIGINAL clothing outlets. (Not all schmancy like the new ones now with the food courts and the Anne Taylors.) No. This was a quonset hut, as I remember, where you and lots of local migrant workers could search for factory 2nds and 3rds in that balmy San Juaquin Valley heat amongst huge stacks of clothes. One of my many random childhood memories that I hold in my heart was driving home from a successful trip (I got a hot yellow pair of OP pants--you may remember them) and hanging my head out the window of our Chrysler station wagon (the blue one, I think. Maybe the white one. But definitely not the orange one, which came later) and singing along to the radio playing Olivia Newton John's Xanadu.
A long preamble to what I really want to say:
Look how beautiful you all are. That dress of yours is sweet. And look at Kelly and Kasey! The bonnets! Adorable. And Mimi's housecoat. Thanks for bringing it, every post, with the amazing pictures. I love it!
Despite the loud absence of the "missing girl", what a nice picture!
I've never even seen that picture! I love it. What a cool thing you are doing here- bringing (some of) these pictures to light. When I read that the photo was taken in Sanger, I could immediately picture Mimi and Ardy's house there, and could even remember the very smell of it. Oh, I feel a little heartsick. And check out those clothes that you SEWED- what with four young kids! All I can manage to do is buy clearance stuff at Kohl's and make my kids spinach smoothies. For shame! And Julie- I totally forgot about that outlet in Sanger, but now that you mention it, I myself was the lucky (?) recipient of a trip out to the Sanger outlet and a flashy pair of OP pants! I love it that we pretty much had the same childhood! Well, done, Mom!
You are too kind. And I am loving all this blogging by the Ryan women. I wish I had stayed in Clovis longer, because I loved being around you guys. I'm not quite sure how Kelly and I are still joined at the hip, now that we are thousands of miles from each other and with nearly a dozen children between us, but we manage. Blogging helps! I love all of you and can't get enough of your stories and pictures. Post away!
see jude, you do care about fashion! oh, your so affected...
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