See What All that Marrying Gets You!

Surprise party

I’ve never properly introduced you to my family.  You hear me tease and torment my mother Kathleen in my blog all the time.  She’s a good sport, and believe me, she gives as good as she gets.  Luckily, she lives very close to me.  I see her several times a week, and speak to her at least daily.  Mother illustrates my blog.  She has always loved sketching but came into professional art late in life.motherI have three sisters.  Phyllis, just older than I, blogs at Anchors and Butterflies.  When we were kids she took her older sister role very seriously, trying to keep me on the straight and narrow.  She dressed neatly, took care of her things, and set an excellent example for me.  She was a real trial.  It was awful following her in school.  The teachers would be so welcoming till they had me for about two days.

My beleaguered brother Bill was three years younger than I.  He was most often my victim and partner in crime.  He was just enough younger to frequently get the worst of it.  He had his own complaints about following in my footsteps In school, but they weren’t exactly the same ones I’d voiced after following Phyllis.  My two baby sisters, Connie and Marilyn were more like a second family, coming along after Mother and Daddy had kind of practiced up on us.

My husband Bud completes the family I speak of most often.  we grew up together, marrying while in college.  Daddy died in 1981, so you hear of him in older stories.  Of course you hear of my multitude of grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and distant relatives of unknown kinship.

Mary Elizabeth Perkins and Roscoe Gordon Holdaway Wedding PictuRoscoe Holdaway and Mary Elizabeth Perkins at their wedding in 1913 my mother’s parents

parents wedding pic  Kathleen Holdaway and Bill Swain June 20, 1946

Our first Thomas Bethea’ far right Linda Swain in diaper next to him Phyllis Swain, blonde girl in middle of back row.  Bud’s and Linda’s first pic together.

image  Bill 2

In the left hand picture you can see Mother, lower left, Connie, middle, Marilyn on end, Phyllis, second row right, Linda second left.  In the second pic, you see my brother Bill with Mother.  We are a close family and take every chance to get together.  We all make a point not to miss family gatherings, because if we don’t, we can’t defend our tattered reputations!

36 thoughts on “See What All that Marrying Gets You!”

  1. Your post left me teary-eyed – mostly because I love the way you write and it is so nice seeing pictures. But it also makes me yearn for a big happy family as we had a small dysfunctional one. You have reminded me to remember the good times! :-)

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  4. You are very lucky, Miss Linda. Enjoy that lively family. ☺ Van

    p.s. Your title reminds me of my dad at his 74th surprise birthday party, where we all showed up for the first in a long time. He looked around and said..”Look what I started”. He died 3 weeks later.

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  7. I think you have a truly wonderful family. It is lovely that you are all so close. You have such colourful characters in your clan, topped off by your wonderful mum (her illustrations are brilliant). I look forward to hearing more of your tales :-)

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