Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the place where I grew up.  And who I grew up with.

Here is a picture of that place…. and those people.  Yep.  That is my family.  That is the backdoor.  I can not tell you the number of times I ran in and out of that door.  But the thing  never slammed shut.  Nope.  It had one of those arms on it… the cylinders that is kind of like a hydraulic doohitchamajigger..  At any rate, my Dad always seemed to make sure things worked.  Everything was fixed.  We didn’t have holes in screens, or leaky faucets.  No peeling paint, or lights that were burnt out.  Everything was in great repair.  The same thing goes for the screen door. It just closed slowly, quietly.

It was probably the only quiet thing in that house.

So.  This is a photo of the all of us.  My Dad and Mom…  all seven kids.  And, how about those hats?  What were we thinking?

I am the youngest there in that photo… and in the family.  I had the best bonnet, if I must say so myself.  Can’t say so much for my Mom’s big black scary hat.

We didn’t wear hats all the time as I recall.  I think this must have been Easter.  Hard boiled eggs and bonnets.

I bet in all our little minds… at the time this photo was snapped….  I bet… we had absolutely no idea what our lives would be like.  How we would turn out.  The conversations we’d be having with one another these days.  I for one… cannot remember what I was thinking when that picture was taken.  I bet none of the others can remember either.

That is the thing about life, isn’t it?  We just don’t know much at all, when it comes right down to it.   We can guess, plan, speculate, project… about the future.  And, we can sort of recollect some parts the past.    We go in, and out, a lot of doors.   Yet…. all we really know is the moment.

I wish I were better about staying in the moment.  But I am not.   It seems I am always trying to figure out what’s ahead.  That way, I’ll have plenty of time to worry about it.  Dang it anyhow.

I miss some things about that old house.  About that time growing up… with all those people in that photo.   I have  good memories about that place, and those people I call my family.  I love them dearly.  With or without bad hats.

 “Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself” -Chinese Proverb