One Thing Leads to Another…

One Thing Leads to Another…

 

 

We all know how ‘one thing leads to another…’ This has been one of those weeks. My blogging has lagged as other things in my life ‘got in the way.’ Now, all of a sudden, ideas are just flying so fast…

Among several other things, since Father’s Day, last Sunday, here, I posted the above photo of my Dad on the 40th anniversary of his death. The response has been overwhelming. Most recently, as you may have seen in the comments, I heard from my first cousin, Kelton Kinnick, along with a nice email, continuing the conversation. He asked some questions that got me to digging to some old files. Besides finding what I was looking for, of course, I found several other folders with papers that got me thinking about other stuff from there, that would be worth spending some time on.

Additionally, I talked a couple of days ago with my uncle Buzzy Kinnick, and his wife, Colleen, on the occasion of their 69th wedding anniversary. That, plus Kelt’s question about the early days of his family (Leo, Buzz’s brother) got me to reminiscing… which, of course, led me to also thinking about the first half of the 1900s in the Smith family. And then, a cousin on the Smith side posted a photo about a 60th anniversary, in Nebraska, on that side of the family. The wife, Shirley, doesn’t look that different, I noticed, from what she did when her family visited our farm in western Iowa in 1954. So I had to find that photo to share, during which I saw some other photos I need to work with… and it goes on and on.

Dad’s family always called their farm, “The Homeplace.” This was also the theme of the family history booklet written by my aunt LVene, assisted by her sister, Irene, which has been so valuable in my continued work on our family history. Of course, I adopted that concept in my extended fiction writing of “The Homeplace Saga” of several novels and hundreds of short stories - that I need to continue to promote and work on. See more at: http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/

Thank you, one and all, for the renewed inspiration and encouragement.

One thing leads to another…

Families are Forever!! ;-)

Father's Day - Reflections - A Week Later...

Father's Day - Reflections - A Week Later...

A week ago, I posted this image on Facebook - my father, Pete Smith, as I want to remember him, from this photo dated Dec 1960. He was 45 at the time, just in his prime. We couldn't have imagined at the time that he had only 17 more years on this earth...he didn't quite make it to 62. And the last three or so years were an excruciating battle with cancer that he fought so hard against, every last day. 

I post this, today, because today marks the 40th anniversary of his passing. I'll turn 78 this coming Saturday, July 1, so he has been gone more of my life than he was in it. Kind of hard to conceive, but certainly true, as I think of it. My wife lost her Dad too early, as well, who I also grew up with in our tight-knit rural community. He passed away, from a massive stroke, in 1972. We each miss them both dearly, but have had good lives in spite of those losses. They each set us on our best paths. We are each thankful for that.

Families are Forever! ;-)