Family

Family Picture Page

This page is dedicated entirely to my family and friends so close to are family that they're part of it to me. Since my singular photo gallery was getting rather crowded, I decided to split it into two seperate pages-- one for friends, one for family. Here's my family page:

These are my dear and darling parents, Lin and Mom/Connie. Yes, they are indeed lesbians. Truthfully, they seem to be better parents than most. I have only a few friends that don't complain about their parents regularly. But both of mine are wonderful 99% of the time. They've been together since I was nine months old, so now they are moving into that couple phase. Up until I left for college, we were a family unit, three people living together. Now it's just them, so they get to do that fun married people stuff.

And here they are on some nearby rocks, looking quite darling.

This is my mother, Connie. She's an aspiring forensic psychologist and a great writer. Her and I are always on the same wave-length (which sometimes leaves poor Lindie out) and we talk about the strangest things. The three of us went on a stellar three week vacation this summer for my graduation present (some time in the distant future I'll make a page of it) and we ended up in Vegas and then came back (how awesome is that! Vegas! Yay!). On the way out, we passed through Pennsylvania and Mom and I had this random conversation about Kevin Spacey and Amish people. It was weird, but that's an example of how we communicate.

This is Lin, who is an information systems manager. What that is, I'm not sure. We call this picture the John Black look. If you don't watch Days of Our Lives, don't ask. Lin's always got a saying, a cliche or a story for you that's got a life lesson in it somewhere. It's great. She says I give her, and others, the "life lesson" look when they're imparting some sacred wisdom of the elders upon me. She's very stable and good-hearted and Mom and I are a bit more crazed, so she keeps us from going all nuts.

This is Lin, Mom, and I in the portraits Lisa's father took of us. We never quite all looked right in the same photo, but I think this one was one of the better ones. Mom's eyes aren't quite as wide as in some of the others. We're a pretty damn happy family. It's hard to live somewhere without them now. I'm really glad we went on that vacation. As much as I value my privacy (when you're an only child, you start to get fond of that alone time), I think it was a major bonding experience. The first week or so was mostly just driving...trying to get to Vegas in time for our reservations. One night we had gone a little too long and we were all tired and grouchy. We rented a Ford Explorer (an SUV...Mom maintains that it's a truck...she's crazy) and the dome light wouldn't shut off that night and we didn't know why. Mom and I just wanted to go upstairs to the hotel and Lin said she was going to stay in the parking lot until it shut off. We told her that it didn't matter and the light would go off and we didn't need to watch. "You guys are fucking idiots, then!" she said. We thought that was funny. For the rest of the night, we laughed a lot. Lin had another funny swearing moment. Mom got distracted by scenery once and swerved onto the other side of the road. Lin looked up from her map, saw us speeding towards an oncoming vehicle in the other lane and in this moment of crisis, sputtered out only, "Hon! What the fuck?!" It was great.

This was the evening that I decided my mother actually is crazy. She disappeared into the closet to get something, Lin and I started getting curious, we whipped open the door, and there she was in this vest that was going to the family center, a plastic bag on her head, and holding a broom.

And this was Lin's expression after we opened the door on Mom.

And then she went into the closet, too. I think maybe it's something about that little room that brings out the insanity in people. It was a terrifying evening, anyway. We're always joking that our family would be a great candidate for one of those reality shows. Definitely. Between stuff like this and our theme nights (don't ask), we should already be on the air. Have you ever seen EdTV? Ed's got nothing on us.

This is my grandmother on Mom's side. I spend a lot of my summer days at her house, which is a town or two over from ours. It's generally a TV marathon when I go over there. We love watching Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances. Her and I play cards or Yahtzee sometimes. But watch out: she's been known to cheat at Old Maid and Uno.

This is my grandmother on Lin's side in one of those professional photos. She tells some interesting stories from her childhood --and Lin's-- when we visit. One of my favorites was when I started driving and I had backed into a tree. We were telling her about that and here's how the conversation went:

Grandma Esther: I hit a tree once...right after I side-swiped a car.

Lin: Was that on the way to the Y?

Grandma Esther: No...that was the other time.

This is a bad picture of Lin and a good picture of Nana.

A classic photo from our Disney World vacation a few years back. This is Lin and I outside the Tower of Terror in the Mickey Mouse rain ponchoes we bought. Note the difference between our expressions.

This was taken at our neighbors' wedding.

This is Lin and I in our pajamas. Mom was hell bent on getting a good picture of us. This was about the tenth shot.

Mom and I are such hams. Lin kept taking pictures of us at the West River one day, and this is us pretending we're modest.

That's Lin and I the same day.

This is Toshia and Richard. They're our neighbors who serve as aunt and uncle to me. The two of them have been together and finally tied the knot last summer. They come over for dinner and poker every once in a while and it's always fun. They're in our kitchen in that shot, Toshia's holding Timi.

This is Uncle Joe and Aunt Dee, who I spent a few days with a few summers back. I had a great time with them. They're both so very funny. Uncle Joe took me driving for the first time and Aunt Dee and I went shopping. I got this big band tape that we listened to...that was fun.

These are their two sons, Andrew and Joseph. The two of them do not stop! I was there for about three days and I was totally worn out when I left!

These are the never-ending Seymours. I don't get to see this branch of the family very much, which is sad. There are so many of them that they've become a unit of their own. It's great to see how well they all seem to get along. I'm quite a few years younger than all of them, so I'm a bit out of the loop, but I love them all dearly anyway. (allow me to take this moment to complain...five of my cousins are in their twenties and thirties, and two are still in the single digits...and I'm an only child, stuck in the middle. It's aggrevating!) To, uh, see more of the Seymours (sorry...), just look below.

This is my Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda with the majority of their grandchildren. A few more have been born by now. Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda never forget me...whether it's a birthday card or a Christmas card or any other occasion, they always remember me. That means a lot to me and they're very nice.

This is my cousin James and his soon to be ex-wife Young Ju. They have, I think, five daughters now: Elizabeth, Victoria, Christine, Grace and the newly born Catherine Faith. When they were in Korea they sent me the most wonderful blanket...it's on my bed and it's so soft and so beautiful.

This is my cousin John with his daughter Sharlene and his wife Melissa. He's part of that group of our family that seeks out the highest piece of land in the area to stand on and pick on the rest of the family whenever there's a family barbeque. It's an elite group and luckily, Melissa fit in with that group immediately and with ease. They're both great fun. They have two daughters together: Savannah Lona (the Lona comes from our grandmother) and Samantha.

This is my cousin Todd and his wife Tina. They have two daughters, Kyra and Sierra. They lived at my grandmother's house for a while and they were always so nice to me. They had video games in their room and I'd play racing games or Wheel of Fortune with them. Tina used to draw cartoons with me. Once, they took me around Cornish Fair with them. That was fun. Another time, I went to the fireworks in Bellows Falls with them. We were sitting in the back of their pick-up truck and I was young and talkative at the time and I just wouldn't shut up. I was rattling on about one story or another and Todd was trying to relax and watch the show. So I said, "if you want me to shut up anytime, just tell me," and then went on to some other story. Todd turned to me and said, "Meagan?" and I said, "Yeah?" and he just sighed, "Shut up." It was straight out of sitcom...truly funny.

This is my cousin Fred, who was recently married to a woman named Karen. He has a daughter named Taylor Rose, she has a son Corbin, and they have a son Ryer together. When I was little and we'd have Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house, you could guarantee there was always a present under the tree for me from Fred. I still have Teddy the Birthstone Bear on a shelf somewhere.

This is my cousin Miranda, my only female cousin. She and her husband Jay have two children: a son, Jacob, and a daughter, Abigail. Since she's my only female cousin, I used to follow her around everywhere, but she was always good to me anyway. She gave me a jean jacket and her and I used to play with these dolls...I think they were action figures from Jem. I used to love that show. This picture is way old. I almost want to say it was from her middle school graduation, but that can't be right...

This is Larissa, Lin's niece, who I consider to be a cousin, even though we aren't technically related. I debated on whether or not I should put her on my friends page because since she's gone to college we've been e-mailing back and forth and we've finally gotten to know each other a little better. We used to come up with murder mysteries involving the chickens her family owns back when we were a little younger. Her and her mother finally came up for a visit last summer and we had so much fun. She and her boyfriend Micah came up to my going off to college party this year. They were great. It was mostly a four on four badminton game in the afternoon, and the two of them were so positive and fun and energitic. It was great. Larissa and I share a love for Jude Law, the Talented Mr. Ripley, Entertainment Weekly and fame. She's a bigtime Jim Carrey fan. Some day, I'll direct a movie, and she'll review it in Entertainment Weekly. She's really quite a gifted journalist.

This is my long lost third cousin Phillip, aka Flipp. And he's living up to the "long lost" part lately...I haven't heard from him in a while. Anyway, he happened upon my webpage and noticed we had the same last name. After comparing grandparents and other relatives, we discovered that we're third cousins. So we've been e-mailing back and forth, also. When Episode I of Star Wars came out, my parents and I got to go up and meet Flipp and see the movie the day before it opened (since he worked at a movie theater). He's always good for a laugh. Speaking of laughs, I should've used this picture he sent me of him eating buffalo wings. It's interesting.

Now, for those friends of the family (other than Toshia and Richard, who managed to slip in with the family).

This is Kim, Seal and my mother in our kitchen. Seal is Kim's mother. Her and her husband Bill live down in Florida and Seal comes up every once in a while to visit (Bill rarely does...the man works too much!). Kim lives a few miles down the road from us and used to visit almost every Thursday, back in the day.

Here's one of just Seal and Kim.

That in the background is Wanna. She collects anything. My mother once said to her, "Wanna, you have two of everything." Wanna simply nodded and replied, "Three of some." She's great fun and a very nice woman. Whenever she goes somewhere, she always brings me back a pen or a pencil for my collection. She's so incredibly nice to me...sort of an extra grandmother.

This is Elsie, Wanna's partner. Sh'es a really nice person, as well. Always there to help you and never forgets you.

This is Laura and Inga. Like the picture of Elsie, this was taken on New Year's eve. Laura and Inga are a very nice-- and very funny-- couple that we're friends with.

This is, from left to right, Lin, Elsie, Inga and Wanna, still New Year's eve, celebrating in Wanna's cellar (a place you have to see to believe).

This is Skippy, someone we've known all of my life. She's a scream. She does the funniest things, and tells about them so well. A little while ago, we all went to Burlington and late at night, we bought some coffee at this place called Mocha Joe's and sat on some steps drinking it. There was this police officer cruising around the area, and he drove past us and leared at us out the window. Then there was this look of realization and disappointment on his face when he figured out it was three women in their forties and a sixteen year old girl. We were all a little depressed after that, but it was hilarious.

This is Russ and Lynn of the Black Rose Band, formerly of Vermont, now of Florida. My grandmother met them through some sort of Vietnam function (Nana is a Gold Star Mother and the Black Rose Band are heavily involved in veteran fundraisers and benefits for all involved in the war) and they just sort of grew into the family. I went with Nana and them to a jamboree they performed at once and I had a blast. I helped set up and tear down, we rode around in the band bus and ate a really late dinner at Friendly's. It was great.

Now, for our pets. Yes, I'm including the cats in this. They're family, too.

This is Tabby, who's older than the hills. Actually, she's two year younger than I am. She's a rather large cat, but she's getting docile in her old age.

This is Timi, who is my mother's. She was either a birthday present or an anniversary present-- I can't remember which. She eats hot and sour soup.

This is Alex, who is whatever Timi isn't-- Christmas or anniversary. She's rather fond of watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

This is Celeste, who's as cute as they come. She's a little dense, though. She has no strange eating habits, she just beats everyone else up.

I guess there's nothing left but me now. So here goes.

That's me in my ever-so-cool looking room. That's one of the reasons I like this picture-- my room looks so good in it. This was taken by my friend Tiffany on our dress-up night (for more details, check out my Friends Picture Page).

And an amusing little one of me as an old lady. Note the price tag on the hat.

I feel so dreadfully vain, but yes, here's MORE pictures of me...These taken by Lisa's father.

Heh heh...taken by Mom.

Last one, I swear.

Well, there's my family. If you wish to return to my main page, please click back on your browser. If you want to visit my Friends Photo Page, click on the gold star below. Thank you!