Family Is So Important! Click to Read and See Who is in the Picture of the Day

This is my little nephew, Mark. He is three years younger than me. I have 17 nieces and nephews. Many of them are older than me. They are all so dear to me. I was able to see Mark last week while he was in town to visit his sister, so I snapped a picture. Now I have to tell you a little about this nephew.

Mark was around a lot when I was really little. I think I was about five years old when two year old Mark lived down the street from us. See that grin on his face? He has always been like that. See that little mischievous twinkle in his eyes? That has always been there as well. (and for good reason)

He had a little battery operated car that he drove on the sidewalk next to his house. (He slipped out while his mom was busy with other things.) He loved that car. My daddy, his grandpa, was driving Mom and me to town and Mark was driving on the sidewalk. Daddy rolled down is window and asked Mark if he wanted to race. Mark did. Daddy let him nose ahead for a long time and then passed him. We looked in the rear view mirror to see Mark pounding his head on the steering wheel in defeat. Mama felt sorry for him.

Sometimes Mark's dad had us ride with him to do errands. In those days kids were not restrained by seat belts or booster seats in a car. His dad always left the car running because he was just going to dash in for a minute. Mark always took the opportunity to get behind the wheel and pretend to be driving. (He was probably 3 by this time.) I tried to boss him and tell him to sit down and leave stuff alone like his daddy had told him. I figured we would be driving down the street with Mark behind the wheel at any moment.

After such times as this, I developed a reoccurring dream. Mark was always at the wheel and we were either on a bridge or a high mountain pass. He was laughing and driving like crazy. I was always glad to wake up. Now I laugh about that because he is a good driver and I have enjoyed going with him down many roads since.

I have memories about each of my nieces and nephews. All the memories are as different as they are. They were closer to my age than my siblings so I guess they were more like cousins. I have a bunch of them, but have only met very few of them. I am blessed with a wonderful family and yes, Mark is one of the very dearest of them all.