Ever Changing Family

my Reflection on a Photograph for Comp. 1(the second time)

The photo was taken in Grandpa and Grandma Taylor’s living room on Thanksgiving 1995 before we had eaten lunch. In the photo, from right to left, are my mom and dad, Uncle Pete Lundell, Aunt Karen Lundell, Grandpa Taylor with me sitting on his leg, Grandma Taylor, Todd, Denise holding baby Jordan, Kelly, Eric, Carrie holding Zach, Becky, Aunt Karen Taylor, Uncle Richard, and Aunt Sue. Even though the photograph is only one of many family pictures, this one stands out because of both the age and who is included in it. The family had changed greatly since the picture was taken. When I compare the photo to more recent family pictures, you can immediately see who is missing, those who have been added since, or gone. You can also see how only some, not all, of the appearances have changed through time.

The photograph is the only picture my family has with the "whole family" included in the photo. This is mainly because we have grown so large that we need to take separate family photos, based on Grandpa and Grandma Taylor's children, instead of one huge picture. If we tried to take a complete family picture now, the faces would be hard to see.

One change to the family since the photograph was taken was that my cousin, Todd, and his wife Denise got divorced. This was really hard on the family since they lived so far away in New York, but it was the hardest on their children, Zach and Jordan. They were forced to choose between living with their mom or dad, which split up the family even more. Todd moved back to Minnesota about four years ago to be closer to family. Zach comes back once every couple of years to visit on a holiday, but Jordan hasn't been back for at least four or five years. We miss them both so much.

Another change to the family since the photograph was taken was four of my cousins getting married. My cousin Becky was first. She and Jim got married in 2000 on April 29^th. I was lucky enough to be one of the two flower girls, one from each family. I still have my flower girl dress and hairpiece. About four years later, Kelly married her husband, Sid, on January 9^th, but not many of the family were at the wedding because they got married in Hawaii. On October 21^st in 2006, we added another member to our family when Jason married my cousin Carrie. The wedding was especially important to my dad because he is Carrie’s godfather.

It would be almost six years before we had the last addition to the family through marriage. On June 25^th, 2012 we added Amy to our family when she married my cousin Eric. The marriage was not well-known to the whole family until Thanksgiving that year for a few reasons. They had originally planned on having a relatively big wedding in September, but had instead got married at a courthouse with only a few close family invited to witness. This was mainly because Amy was starting to get overwhelmed with the number of people who R.S.V.P.’d back saying they were coming. It would take almost a year before everyone could get together to celebrate their marriage.

The third change to the family since the photograph was taken was the addition of one more grandchild, my brother William, and six more great-grandchildren. My brother joined the family on January 11^th, less than two months after the picture was taken. My cousin Carrie and her husband Jason would be blessed with two amazing kids, Ethan who is nine and Zoe who is six. Her sister Becky and Becky’s husband Jim would also be blessed with two amazing kids, Noah who is eight and Gavin who at four is the youngest member of our family. The final two blessings to our family come in the form of Kelly and Sid’s children Charlie, eight, and Emily, six.

The final and biggest change to the family since the photograph was taken was the death of Grandpa Taylor on July 31^st, 2010. He was one of the rocks of the family. Without him every new family picture seemed to have a huge gap right next to Grandma. It was really hard for my immediate family because we found out days after the funeral that dad’s department at work was being transfer down to Slater, Iowa. Everything seemed to fly by after that so we were not given as much time to grieve before the new school year begun.

Therefore, as you can see my family is ever changing and ever growing. Even though Grandpa Taylor, one of the rocks of the family, is not here with us anymore, we are still trying to go on with our lives. We will always miss him, but I am sure he is watching over us from heaven. We will see him again when our time on this earth is over. Until then, we try to not notice the huge gap next to Grandma in every family picture.