I started to add something at the end of my last post about my brother, but then I decided I’d do a little post just about my family. I dug up some pictures that I feel really capture family dynamic and character. (Sorry for the poor image quality on some of them.) This one, for instance of my mom’s side of the family, taken a few years before I was born. Not that they all liked that haircut or anything. My dad is the only redhead and my mom is the long haired one that I look just like.

My parents' wedding at a family member's lake. I love how simple their wedding was.

This is definitely an image I remember well from childhood. That was like my dad's uniform.

My mom and I at the Red River Gorge

My cousin and I on my dad's first horse, Sam.

I swear, my brother picked out this outfit himself and wore suspenders and a bowtie every day until middle school.

My mom's parents. They've been together since they were 14. They're 85 now.

My mom's mom, a woman from whom I inherited a great number of traits, among them a fantastic sense of style.

I really like this one of my dad's dad.

As much as I love my family, we aren’t particularly close, I just tend to not really have a lot in common with them. For instance, my favorite winter jacket is one that my uncle originally bought for himself more than 30 years ago. It’s this really fantastic leather bomber jacket that my mom wore all the time when I was little. Anyway, I was showing it to him the other day and remarked I wanted to get a few small repairs done to it when he said, “Well geez, it’s 30 years old, just throw it away and get a new one!” I just kind of stared at him for a minute before I asked him if he knew that I make my living loving, repairing, and selling vintage clothes. We just have very different ideas about many many things.

A self-portrait my brother did when he was in art school. I think it captures him very well.

The one member of my family that I know I can always count on to get me is my brother. He is one of the few people in the world who always gets my jokes, we have a very similar sense of humor. We grew up in a very, very small country town where we were always looked upon with a definite amount of suspicion and ridicule. We also lived miles and miles from any other kids, but all these factors are the things that cemented us together. When I turned 18 he gave me keys to his apartment and asked me to move in. In that he gave me my first real taste of freedom and independence. He has gone out of his way and done so many things for me that no one else would, and introduced me about so many of my favorite things. I owe so much of myself to him.

Very shortly, he will be moving to Korea indefinitely to teach English, and I will miss him terribly. I love you Dan, have all the fun! You can follow Dan’s absurd life as a hillbilly tycoon on his blog, The Magical World of White Trash Insurgency and Intellect.

My brother's first car, originally a 1984 Toyota Carolla. He made it The Beast.

Thanks for reading!