Well, it’s been exactly six months since I took these photos, and I figured it was time to share. ‘Cause family portraits in sweaters and flannel seems appropriate for June in Texas! Ha. Really, it’s the old “shoemaker’s wife goes without shoes” scenario; I had totally forgotten I had never done anything with these portraits until my dear brother said, “Erm, remember those pictures you took of me with my dog? Did you ever edit the rest of them?” #fail
So here are family portraits I took of Mom and Dad, and my brother and sister and their doggies, and my kiddo. This was Paige and Callie’s first time meeting each other (Jenna and Clark’s dogs.) They were hysterical. They acted like two grandkids playing and fighting all weekend. Callie actually told Paige to lie down and hush while we were watching “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
My wonderful husband unfortunately did not make this trip. He rarely does. With a thousand miles between us and Mom and Dad, we started swapping traveling for Christmas so not just one set is constantly making that awful drive. Mom and Dad don’t seem to mind. They have a routine of stopping in Baton Rouge and eating at Prejean’s which has the unique feature of a webcam present in its dining room. Yes. We have watched our parents live-stream their dinner of fried shrimp and gumbo washed down with a couple of gimlets before bed. Jenna and I have a very different approach to the Dreaded I-10 Trek East. We leave at the crack of dawn, Yeti cooler in the back seat full of veggies, hummus, and tons of chocolate and Paige, Jenna’s Frenchie, snoring in her bed, barely visible under the blankets, suitcases and Christmas presents. The chocolate is gone by the time we hit the Louisiana border, and we’ve listened to six episodes of Up and Vanished, a true crime podcast. We drive the entire trip in one day, spinning gravel in the driveway around 11pm as we approach our childhood house, bedecked in Christmas lights because Mom made Dad put them up the day before just for us.
Many thanks to Hannah’s best friend, Megan, for snapping the photos which include me. These kinds of pictures are so important to me. We’re all getting a little older, and the best gifts we can give each other are actual printed photos to fill our homes. Our little brother is in Atlanta; Mom and Dad in south Georgia. My sister, daughter and I are all in Austin, Texas. We are pretty spread out! So it’s nice to mail some 8×10’s to my brother and know that the same photo I have of me and my siblings on my bookcase is the one on his kitchen counter. Just another link to remind us that though we are far apart, we are never very far away.
