A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words



A picture is worth a thousand words.

Sunday afternoon I was looking through some old photos that my mom sent me a year or so ago.  Some friends and I enjoyed all the different hairstyles, furniture and clothes that were present at different times in my family’s life.  These were family photos, so of course they pulled the heart strings too.  Lots of smiles were on display, occasions gone by but not forgotten and people gone too.  That happens.  The deeper I got into this box the more memories popped in and out of my mind and as luck would have it, I found one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken by my Uncle Gar of me and my Aunt Ami.  I had on my favorite hoodie that my Auntie had brought me from Alaska and I was walking just a little bit a head of Ami and she was looking down at me.   There is no telling what kind of story or adventure I was cooking up!

You see, when I was a kid I was pretty rowdy.  I guess I can be a little rowdy these days too if the occasion arises.  And around the time I was turning three my Mom and Dad were tossing around ideas of good babysitters; you know someone with a tall fence, a good leash, some old toys and very few breakables.  Mom was going back to work and it seemed like the time that I would be able to embrace the outside world with more ease.  They had some options when causally my Aunt Ami suggested that she and my Uncle could look after me while my parents were at work.  That was just it, no questions asked, what a great idea.  But, Ami and Gar didn’t have a high fence, they didn’t have a leash, they didn’t have old toys and they had a lot of breakables. 

My uncle was good with jokes, he always had a good line to drop, and was good with slapstick antics.  I loved that, I just can’t tell you how much.  He made his own weights to fish with and his own lures, he had a workshop that was full of cool stuff to look at and tinker with.  Gar had a Duck named Little Squirt, in a pin in their back yard and every day we would let him out and he would walk through the yard and look around.  They had an old container that caught rain water and Little Squirt liked to get in that and wash off - I can’t believe that I just thought this was all so normal.  But that’s just it, it wasn’t, it was better than anything normal would be.   

My aunt had a green thumb.  She grew African violets, she had a good variety of colors of them and they were beautiful.  She grew amaryllis’ which she displayed when they bloomed, and she had beautiful roses too.    She taught me a lot about plants.  Ami also taught me a lot of fun rhymes and riddles, she read stories to me, made me special snacks, she even put smiley faces in my pancakes. 

Between the two of them they had their work cut out for them, but they didn’t seem to mind.  They bought me my own shopping cart to take to the grocery with them and to Wal-Mart, and of course usually what I put in it came home with us.  Gar encouraged me to start eating bread by telling me at Dairy Queen:  “If you can eat two hamburgers boy, you can eat the buns now.”  Gar noticed that I loved to draw so he bought canvases and got out paints and encouraged me to paint and be creative.  In fact, the day he took that picture we were going to paint while the fall leaves were on display.  I went to coffee break with Gar and tagged along on all his stops throughout Dawson Springs every day and we went fishing a lot too. 

Ami and I sang songs together, especially at Christmas time.  She let me help her with all her flowers too.  We would have long conversations about things that I didn’t understand and she laughed at all my jokes.  She always let me help her cook and never asked if I wanted to help clean up and she gave me lots of hugs.  The more I think about it, I wouldn’t mind to go back to their house for the day right now.  Sooner or later I’d find the candy bar jar, maybe ask her to put on her mood ring that she had in a drawer to see what color it changed too.  I’d probably help Gar let Little Squirt out and help her clean out the bird bath and put some more water in.  The little things that we did were like big things, any help I offered was met with big smiles and little did I know I was learning so much from them. 

My Aunt use to describe people that she really admired for being generous by saying that they:  “had a heart as big as all outdoors.”  I can remember always thinking…”Now that’s big!”  I’d like to say that about them, because they truly did have hearts as big as all outdoors.   No question about that. 

Over the years the kids in my family have all benefitted from their love.  Their doors were open to their nieces and nephews long before I ever entered this world.  They didn’t have children but I guess they had all of us.  Ami made lots of sandwiches over those years and there would be no counting how many jokes Gar pulled.  I just hope they knew what a huge impact they were making on our lives.

 I’m so glad that I found that picture and this time I am going to find a frame for it, so I don’t misplace it again.  Things like that need to be out where you can see them.  So - a picture really is worth a thousand words and then some.  I just proved that.