#25

She kept everything from my childhood.  As he aged, thirty-year-old toys slowly started making their way back into my life.  I still can't believe she kept them so long.  He does love that horse.

#24

A beahuahua (be-wa-wa), as in a cross between a beagle and a chihuahua.  He was supposed to remain tiny, only getting to around ten pounds.  So, we went with irony and named him Fezzik after Andre the Giant's character from The Princess Bride.  Eight years later, he's not so tiny anymore and Fezzik is now only secondarily a movie character name.  

#23

Hill and Dale.  It is such a strange name for a street.  Telling people we live at the corner of Hill and Dale and Taylor Mill always produces the same puzzled look.  How can three roads make a corner?   No, no, Hill and Dale is the name of a single, strange little road.   

#22

For like two weeks, it was magic.  In his mind, the simple Dollar Tree pinwheel had become Dumbo's feather.  Arm stretched high, pinwheel spinning, both dimples deep.   He ran, seemingly non-stop, through the house "flying."  Then one day he put it down on this red box and moved on.  

#21

Mom loves wildflowers.  Black-eyed Susans have always been a part of her backyard.  I plan to get a start of them this summer.  I think I need a patch of them in my yard as well. 

#20

I was at least ten before anyone told me her real name was Lillian.  When she had to be moved into the home, we helped her clean out her house.  She gave me this set of tiny carved elephants.  I doubt she ever missed them.

#19

My dad called them "cigar trees."  I was always fascinated by the seed pods that hung from the one up the street.  Now I have two huge, gnarly ones in my front yard.  I'm still fascinated by the seed pods. 

#18

Her bell collection covered her entire coffee table and three wall shelves.  It was all I could do not to touch them, as I had been told.  When I got older, I was allowed to ring one at a time.  Now they live in the two center drawers of Grandpa's old chifferobe.   Even looking at them this way, I can still remember the exact ring of certain ones. 

#17

I bought it on Craigslist.  The first time I fired it, I nearly burned down our house. 

#16

It is her favorite season.  She likes getting her long sleeves out again after a hot summer. 

#15

Yes, we knew they didn't match our decor but we bought them anyway.  

#14

Our sloped driveway is not the best place for a toddler to learn how to ride a tricycle.  He managed, though, with only minor scrapes and that one time he careened into the shed. 

#13

Our elderly neighbor has no family.  She is a widow and had no children.  I guess she's adopted us.  She has begun giving us items she'll never use again like this lawn chair lounger.  We graciously say thank you and take the items.  I feel bad though, bad for her feeling the need to give away her possessions and bad because we have no intention of using them.

#12

I settled on making a photogram of the ring.  I mixed it in with a set of prints I had been working on in the darkroom and made my way to her dorm.  It only occurred to her after the fact that I was beside her on one knee as she looked through the photos. 

#11

Grandma's touch-me-nots.  They were my favorite flowers, them and snapdragons.  I guess I just have a thing for interactive plants.  We used to squeeze the pods and see who could send the seeds flying farther.  She usually let me win.  They still grow in her flowerbeds even though she doesn't live there anymore.  When I went back to photograph them, I didn't touch them.  It didn't feel right.  

#10

Once, a student gave me a crudely built coil pot she had made in ceramics class.  She had painted a stylized skeleton on one side and the name "Frank" on the other.  She gave no explanation.  I didn't need one.  From that point on, all decorative skeletons would be known as "Frank."  I give you "Frank, reclining."

#9

God Fingers, when the sun breaks through the clouds in specific little rays.  It's like God himself is reaching down to touch us.  I thought she had told me about them.  She thinks I told her.  On any account, they are called God Fingers.     

#8

It will always be his "time-out corner."  He's outgrowing it's effectiveness, but its name will remain.

#7

We planted bell peppers on the back deck that summer.  I guess something to keep our minds busy.  They produced like crazy; we couldn't eat them all.   But, after everything we'd lost and our other troubles with producing, I couldn't bring my self to throw them away.  So, I photographed them.  They were/are beautiful. 

#6

Lord, search my heart,
Create in me something clean.
Dandelions,
You see flowers in these weeds.

#5

He crosses his toes just like me.

#4

her -- "Whoa, we'll definitely need to change the old lady wrought iron shutters."
me -- "Really?  I love them."
I won..

#3

Grandpa stole my thunder and showed him our favorite movie when he was only two.  I was saving it.  At least I got to teach him "This is Halloween."  He sings it all the time.

#2

We didn't want your typical nursery.  Precious Moments and Noah's Arc had no business in our baby's room.  Since we didn't know the gender, we settled on the neutral decor of brightly colored polka dots.  We spent hours spacing them just right in the corner over his crib.  He spent only seconds to peel them off once he could reach.  I took them all down with him in the summer.  His sister's imminent arrival called for redecorating.  His now four-year-old dimples never faded as he pulled his baby dots from the wall.  I cried a little.

#1

408 Home Street.  Georgetown.  Home, 1979-1997.
Complete with one of Mom's silk flower wreaths.