October 8!!!

On October 8, 1959 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a little girl was born to Les and Mary Jo Walker, their first. Les was 24, Mary Jo was 21. It's hard to believe I am 50 today, I really actually CANNOT BELIEVE IT because I feel so much younger, how did that happen? Well, I'm trying to feel good about it. My father got a scanner that scans old slides and sent me these photos, they are amazing.


My grandfather delivered me, here he is outside the Operating Room. Love the purple feet from the dye.


My mother was all of 21 here, eek. She looks so rosy cheeked and perhaps a little unsure of motherhood.


And my father, all of 24 and looking like a member of the rat pack!

My grandfather was an Obstetrician in the small town of Pine Bluff but he also had a passion for art. The story goes, he went to college to study art but when his mother found out he was drawing from nude models, she made him quit. So he became and Obstetrician/Gynecologist! I don't know if that's true or not but I love it! He was an artist and did beautiful pastel portraits of all his grandchildren and his beloved dachshunds. I still have the portrait he did of me in my bedroom. He also did needlepoint and I have a pillow he made. He died in the 1970s.

My father followed in his footsteps and went to medical school and also became an OB-GYN. And like his father, was also very artistic, which made him a good surgeon but he also had a model railroad and spent hours making the scenery, painting the cars and engines to look realistic. He still has one today, an outdoor version.

My mother went on to have 3 more children, pretty close together, so she spent her younger years pretty much driving car pools, cooking and doing laundry. When the last one of us moved out, she was only 50 (notice I say only???) and she and my father eventually retired out here in Colorado and they live on a mountain overlooking a gorgeous canyon and they hike almost daily.

And here they are today! The reason I am who I am and have come halfway to the century mark (eek) Of course my mother is wearing one of my aprons. :)