Family Pictures

One of my favorite activities at Grandma's house is studying the two dimensional snapshots that make time stand still during various stages of the Etsinger family life. As Bud and Ruby approach 80 years of age, they sure do have a lot of frozen in time memories.

What is even more enjoyable is the time that I can sit in their back room and listen to them recount those memories. I am always amazed at how sharp their memories are of those joyous, sad, funny and difficult times in their lives. I struggle to remember those things more than a year.


This weekend Ruby reminded me of how instrumental she was in convincing Jackie to like me over 25 years ago. I've heard the story before, but this weekend, I told Adam how instrumental his Grandma Ruby was in convincing me to like Jackie. She may not have known she was doing it, but she was. You see, I was convinced that Jackie would turn out to be like her mother. A mother that loved her God, loved her husband, loved her children through thick and through thin. She loved with time and she loved with sacrifice and she loved with hard work. Who could turn down a deal like that?

Well, there was one other thing. Ruby always dressed Jackie simply and wanted to make sure her daughter was always working on the farm. I got to watch my sweetheart grow up hard at work and I knew her as a friend before I noticed that she was nearly as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside.

I wish I had a picture of her in her workclothes coming in from the pig barn.