I love this photo of Uncle John and Aunt Fran so much it makes me want to time travel just so I can hug them. Everything about it makes me smile: her big hair and earrings, both of them wearing diamond rings, their matching outfits, holding their sunglasses (and he, his cigarettes and lighter), standing next to their big Caddy. The photo screams Texas, but they weren’t Texans. They were Southern through and through–which meant they were both fantastic storytellers: she tended toward the dramatic, he toward the understated, but all of their anecdotes would make me laugh until I cried.
One way or another, I’m determined that these two will end up in one of my stories one day. Even though they’ll be fictionalized, if you recognize them, you’ll know every word was written with affection.
They look like they must have been a hoot. And that is some hair…
I know, right? You’re not related to them. But I’m sure there are plenty on that side of the family just like ’em.