We Were Seventeen

Porch pictures capture my young life. Mother was generally the photographer, using her small Brownie camera. With little artistic finesse, she managed to save moments that I treasure decades later. The resulting pictures are sometimes fuzzy, often a bit off-center, and may even contain parts of bodies but not the whole. These characteristics make them all the more precious to view. I can be transported to our farm and almost retrieve the cacophonous voices, sweetened with languid drawls. Once again I'm surrounded by dear ones whose current absence from my life diminishes it somehow.

As the next-to-last first cousin, I felt very special to be accepted by my senior kin. Family gatherings included our beloved Granny Ruth, six aunts and uncles and their spouses and my own parents. With food as our anchor, and conversation our sail, we spent many sweaty Southern afternoons together.

The years between the eldest and youngest member of my generation number twenty-two. Sadly, it was the baby of the group, my darling brother, who left us first. In the years since his loss, two more cousins have passed away. I try to keep connected to those who remain through visits, phone calls, and letters. There's something so comforting about these special people, each one unique.



Some summer day in about 1950, we gathered on the front porch of our farmhouse for this historic snapshot. Fourteen cousins, Granny Ruth, and our friend, Jerry Jr. AKA 'Pee Wee.'
We were:
Row 1 (l-r) Pee Wee, Bette, Carter, Jackie
Row 2 (l-r) Kathy, Jeanelle, David, Jessie
Row 3 (l-r) Joe, Nan, Granny Ruth, Foster
Row 4 (l-r) Frank, Frank Jr., Reg, Lawrence

Three were missing that day. Gordon, our first-born of the generation, is pictured here in 2005 at a Thanksgiving family gathering.



And Gordon's sisters, Irene and Ruth, photographed in my front yard during a visit in the 1990's.



We were seventeen. Linked together, separate and singular. Our stories are worth telling. My husband and daughter, as well as my friends, have heard many of these tales. They know I'm cousin rich.