This may seem unusual and discombobulated. In past years, I posted what amounted to an Easter card here, wishing everyone a happy Easter. This year, I shared a message on the significance of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and salvation.
This past week, I went to the garage to clean it but ended up looking at old family photos, like this one. My wife may not be glad I chose this one because she thinks I make everything about myself. It may seem that way with this one. What isn’t evident here is my hair color. It looks dark, but I was a towhead; I’m not sure why it’s called that.
This photo is of me in 1959, meaning I’m a few months shy of seven. I have some Steve Martin fashion going on from the waist up before anyone knew who he was, and the pants look baggy due to their length because, back then, pants had to last a good three years or more.
My jeans were bizarre-looking, and I found some old pictures featuring them. My parents got carried away with jeans, and one pair I saw could’ve accommodated five more inches of height and 35 pounds, and they’d still fit. I’ll add that one, too.
They were called flood pants, and at lunch, I unzipped my pants to whip out my Wild Bill Hickok lunch box. I know we were poor, but I don’t think it required looking goofy with pants I could roll up to my knees. Don’t kid yourself; if my fingers hit the electrical outlet, my hair catches fire and my pant legs shoot to the floor.
What’s more interesting to me here is the background. You can see the door to my bedroom. The door didn’t close because of a chair, so there was no privacy. It’s the only picture here showing it. I’ve mentioned before that our house didn’t have heat except for a stove in the living room. Sometimes, for extra warmth, which didn’t help much, my parents would turn on the oven in the kitchen and leave the door open.
My bedroom wasn’t really a bedroom but a backroom, so it had tiles instead of carpet. I had a real bedroom, but two years before this picture, someone else came along. Guess who won that battle for the bedroom?
Many people dyed Easter eggs and ate candy. I hoped for a dozen Cadbury eggs but, luck on it. Others visited family. This picture is of me before leaving to visit my great-grandmother. I also found a photo of her last week, but it’s not scanned yet. That was an annual tradition for us.
Others attended church; for some, it’s one of their two days a year to attend. As a kid, I was mostly one of those. If you’re Jewish, you’re just now finishing Passover, and I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to say Happy Passover. If so, then Happy Passover.
These days, my faith is in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, which is essential for Christians. My favorite quote on faith is from an old Christmas movie, “Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to.” Remember, Faith + Nothing = Salvation, and keep in mind the words of Stuart Chase: “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”
I hope you had a good day with family and friends. My parents are gone, Dawn’s parents are gone, and almost everyone from my early life is gone. Getting married meant I went from one daughter to three and added a son. We brought in a couple of sons-in-law, have three grandchildren, and even a great-grandchild. Plus, I suspect some others are coming aboard later. And two cats.
That’s my family, and I love them all—well, not the cats when they puke, which I think they do on purpose.