DocAndersen
It is funny looking back. The images today of a little more than 12 years ago. Back then the twins got birthday presents, It looked, by all appearances, that they got more, big presents then. Now they get smaller presents. The funny reality of that is the smaller presents of today, are twice and three times as expensive as those big fits were then. The best part of the more expensive smaller gits is that I don’t have to put the things together. There were many years when the 5 am pending waking of children was met with well dread. Not because the children would walk downstairs, rather that we hadn’t gone to bed until 1 am or 2 am trying to put all the gifts together.
Back then we still had Santa things and things from the rest of us. The Santa gifts had to be assembled. Santa even though I asked every year, Doesn’t leave unassembled stuff for kids. I asked even asking the mall Santa one time. I could hear him groaning as I sat down, I suspect more form the fact that I sat in his lap than from the question I was asking. I don’t think many fathers took the opportunity to hop on Santa’s lap. I did whenever I could! Assembling Santa’s it slowly faded away with the loss of innocence, At some point all children transition from the reality of Santa to the reality that Santa is a feeling, Santa is the smile from a person who never smiles.
These pictures, however,r instead of Christmas were from a birthday, Number 8 to be specific. The twins were born on my father’s birthday. As I, before the twins had been born on my parent’s 4th wedding anniversary. I guess there was something in the smart-aleck gene that made me arrive when I did, and the twins arrive when they did.
At 8 years old the world was different. Both of them were talking and loved to read. They were still excited and filled with the joy of possible. Yes, that would fade over time that joy of possible. But then, oh yes, they were still bound to possible.
You reminded me of how it was the same with Dustin. He always had big presents until he got close to his teens, then they came smaller and more expensive. He loved computers.
Sounds like my children, they all love computers. Dustin sounds like he was pretty cool!