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| My folks on their first anniversary,September - 1964! |
The happy couple above, are--- of course-- my mom and pops. At the point they were celebrating their first big wedding anniversary. They would go on to celebrate 54 more of these before mom's passing on November 4th.
Mom had been battling various illnesses for the past few years, as has my dad....so my sisters and I had been kind of bracing for an extended period of more of the same, or for something to come along and wallop my dad again!! But, mom's SUDDEN passing on the evening of Sunday, November 4th really caught us all pretty much by surprise!!
I know this here bloggy-woggy-wing-a-ding is usually about fun and the 'ol Loydster being a goofy-geek-a-zoid!!! But, I felt like I needed to stop with the usual silliness for a moment, and pay tribute to not only my mom, but to BOTH of my parents!!! Two people who spent a life-time-PLUS together. Living, loving and raising my sisters and I as best they could--- with considerable help from the Almighty himself, of course!!!
The MOST amazing thing about their love story, at least to me---- is they met, were engaged, and married... all within a WEEK!!! AND--- they managed to STAY married.... for 55 YEARS!!!
Below are some images I snagged from various old photo albums. Notice the GENUINE smiles and laughter going on in most ALL of them??? These two people REALLY loved each other.... AND their family. and they REALLY were, most ALL of their years together.... HAPPY with each other!!!
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| Another one from the first year or so of Loyd and Mary's marriage! |
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| Around 1966-67 or so. Still a couple of young pups! |
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| ......And then a certain youngster named after his dad came along!!! (Loyd, of course!) Check out my pop's CREW-CUT!! Talk about 'kids having kids'!!! Mom was 19, and dad was almost 21 when I entered the picture!! |
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| Mom's VERY pregnant with my sis, Kathy-- in the first pic, and here we are about a year later--- about 1969. |
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| From around 1976, up 'til the early 90s. Dad was the hard-preachin' pastor... mom his faithful companion, song / praise-leader, Sunday school teacher, and sometimes 'women' s ministry' leader!!! Truly an unbeatable team, these two!! |
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| The beautiful little Miss Mary Shinault (my mom!)---- her whole life out ahead of her!!! About age 16!! |
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| 'Ol Loydster and his folks, around 2009. |
Now, you may be asking yourself--- WHY these two pictures, taken SO many years apart.... would be some of my personal favorites. Well.... a BIG part of it, is what the folks in the pics are doing. Those are genuine smiles on those faces,gang. These were people who had a REAL, true happiness. The kind that's deep down, and the good Lord gives to you!! No amount of tough times and rough moments can steal THAT kind of joy!
Mom and pops had some ROUGH times in Texarkana (where the pic of the three of us was taken), including dad going through a triple-bypass surgery!!! But, we also had a number of really fun visits with them there, and--- as ALWAYS with my folks--- LOTS of laughter!! The picture reminds me of that. I've NEVER looked at it, and NOT smiled. Not once.
The older of the two----taken when my mom was a young teen, is also special to me for another reason. One that's even MORE special to me.... now that she's left us!! Look at the young lady's smile in the picture. Go ahead, scroll back up and check it out.... I'll wait. ----- Ok ---- that smile, that open expression of joy that fills my mom's face..... when she was SO young, her life spread-out in front of her..... THAT is what's special to me about that particular picture. Her smile. The SAME smile I saw MANY times throughout the years. The smile that I'll always see in my minds eye, and my memory. Whenever I think of my mom!!!
There's SO much more that could be said here. So much more I could comment on and 'carry on' about!!! But There's just not enough space to do that like I VERY easily could!!! I will say one more thing though!!! It's how I believe--- like a LOT of folks do, that you probably inherit things, character traits and personality 'quirks', from your parents.
My 'practical side'.... the side that has all the common-sense and the work-ethic---THAT is from my dad. Pops has ALWAYS lived the example in front of me, and I'm ETERNALLY grateful for that!! But..... the creative side... the love for music.... the love for old classic pop-culture... the ability to face WHATEVER circumstances come at me,with an INDESTRUCTIBLE sense of humor..... that was a GIFT from my one, my ONLY..... MOM!!! for that---- I'll ALWAYS be thankful. I love and miss you dearly, mom-o-mine!!! 'Til we meet again on the 'other side'!!! I'll meet you behind that 'heavenly piano'!!! we'll sing for a couple thousand years or so--- and NEVER get hoarse or forget the words!!!
(MUCH thanks to my sister, Kathy--- who put up some of these same pics on her facebook page!! Also, LOTS of bear-hugs and kisses to my 'baby sister', Lisa. Even though there's not any pics of you in this collection I've put up, 'little sis'---- know that BOTH of my sisters were right in the CENTER of my heart while I put this post together!!! Your older bro loves you BOTH.... very much!!!)
--------See you NEXT time, gang!!!-------
She was a sweet one-of-a-kind lady who treated me like I was her nephew (maybe better). You had a great mom. Even though it's been about 18 years since I last saw her (at my wedding), I can still very clearly hear her voice, saying "Isn't that neato?" She's seeing a lot of neat stuff now.
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