It's Don's 50th Birthday!

Don, Dad, "Pop", Charles Henry and Alexander Jones

Don's Baptism

Regular readers of this blog know by now that I've been trying to put together a post for each of my sibling's birthdays.  Today is Don's birthday, and it is a special one.  I can't believe my brother Don, the littlest of the "little kids", is 50 years old today!  We are the bookends of the family.  I am the oldest and he is the youngest with 12 years separating us.

My goal in these posts is to feature some pictures from when each of my siblings was little.  When you are the youngest of seven, you begin to think that no one ever took pictures of you.  You know how it is -- the first-born gets studio pics -- it's such a novelty.  By the time the younger ones come along, no one seems to care.

Because of our age difference, however, I was getting to the age when I had my first camera -- one of those little "brownie" cameras that had very low resolution.  Using a flash bulb was beyond the budget and reserved for special occasions.  Even coming up with the money from my allowance for film development took a little bit of doing.  Boy, have things changed.

As Don was growing up, I was a little Mother Hen.  I was old enough to actually be responsible for feeding him his baby food while Mom prepared dinner and changing diapers as needed.  I never could understand why any girls would be interested in dolls when I had real, live, warm, cuddly responsive babies in my life.  I still remember this outfit -- the shorts were bright red and with a matching red collar on the shirt.

Tim holding Dan and Don

It's hard for me to overcome my desire to jump to discussing Don as an adult, a husband, a father of two beautiful girls, a businessman, and above all a boat captain -- but I shall resist. I gathered some of the "old" pictures and put them together with "old" music, especially for his daughters.  Here is the link: Don's Photoshow

Most of us will be together later today to celebrate this wonderful day. Just know that one of the greatest joys of my life was being able to be the "big sister".

Love,

Kath