Veterans Day Thankfulness.....

I can't believe it is Friday already!

Where did this week go?

I've had a lot on my mind lately...

Family

Money

Hardship

Holidays

Giving

Inner Reflection

Reminiscing

and

being Thankful....

I have shared in the past the struggles my family

has faced in the last few years..

a few weeks ago

I stumbled across a book at my grandmothers

full of accounts of people

who lived through

The Great Depression...

I asked her if I could borrow it...

This book has reminded me where I came from and how lucky I am.

Some of the stories I am reading are stories

like my grandparents and great grandparents have told me.

Let me tell you though,

I have learned a lot that has shocked me too .

It is all too much to get into in one post...

but the best part of the

book is the hope and actually the fond thoughts the writers

have of those hard times...

"We did not have money,

but we didn't know we were poor"...

I'll be sharing some of the stories and some of

my own family....

Today for Veterans Day

I thought I'd share two vintage family photos

The young man on the right

is Alton Earl Gray

my grandfather on my dads side of the family...

Doesn't he look like a young Paul Newman?

I absolutely love this photo.

I know he was in the Army and fought in The Rhine River Valley..

Sadly I don't know a lot more...

He liked to talk....but we never talked about The War

We are doing some research though...to be continued...

This is a photo of my Great Aunt and Uncle

Mannon and Nathaniel Cameron

I love this one too because it was taken on the front steps

of my Great Grandmothers house...

I was told this was taken on the day they got married...

might be true..?

Obviously he was in the Navy,

Doesn't she look amazing?

I thought I'd share these because I realised there is a whole generation

of our family where every male served in some branch of the

armed forces...

We were lucky to only have one not come back....

another story for another day.

Hope I have inspired some of you to do some reflecting

and to all my current family tree branches who

are serving our country...

Thank You.