November 22:
My youngest sister turns 50 tomorrow, and my oldest (but still younger than I am) brother turns 60 in less than two weeks. I look at the amount of family history that's been lost because no one had the time to record it, and I get a sense of urgency to complete as much "archiving" as I can, as soon as I can.

Some of these old photos are so poorly exposed, and badly aged, that it's difficult to pick out details. As I worked on the photos from "baby's first Christmas" I am almost certain I spotted, perched on the base of Patty's high chair, the very same sawdust-stuffed teddy bear that's currently slouched on my stairs. I always thought he was "my" bear, but apparently I inherited him from my older sister. Ah, well, that's so often the way of things in big families...