The summer of 1997 saw the Eastern branch of the family visit us in Missouri. The summer of 1998 was our turn to visit them.
That summer they got to see what was then the youngest Lightfoot. We got to see some of them for the last time. Many of the pictures have both generations in them.
Looking at those pictures now reminds me of the many things that I once knew but have forgotten.
This picture above shows my great uncle Charlie. He lied about his age to enlist in the army at age 16 for World War I, received a commendation and honorable discharge for his services, and in his later years was honored by France with the Medal of Honor. There are many stories I only knew part of, and now will never know, about his life.
Then there was this picture of my cousins Clyde and Toni. I know Clyde and my dad were friends as kids together. For my part, I remember going to their cottage on Wanita Lake summers and fishing. Again, many more things I never knew about them.
We also met friends that I met later. Next is a picture of Jeevun Vethanayagam and Carly playing the piano in his parent’s house in Painted Post. He and his parents had moved back to India when I visited them, about a decade later, in 2007, when I traveled to India for work. I got to see their new, almost completed house, in Bangalore.
This next picture of Carly at the electric organ is one of the cute ones we regularly remember about her. It was taken at my parent’s house, in what we called “the music room,” for obvious reasons.
And now, to close, some pictures of a larger gathering of family and friends. Whether we were actually there on the day or not, I believe the gathering was meant to celebrate my sister’s birthday, as the cake and candles would seem to indicate.
At The Rainbow 