I FOUND IT!

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For the past 28 years I have been looking for the above photograph.

I originally owned two master prints. Many years ago I gave the one copy to my late sister Peggy as a gift. I assume that it is still in her home.

While moving the last of my belongings from ye olde Smith homestead this past week, I stumbled upon all of the prints and contact prints from the photography class that I took at the Dayton Art Institute in 1982. In the bottom of that box was the other master copy of the long lost photograph.

I think that the photo captures the unique bond that I always sensed between Dad and Peggy. Everybody laughed at my Dad's jokes, but Peggy *really* laughed at them. :-)

It is also a very special photograph to me because my father was not a "hands-on" type of person - figuratively or literally. That's not a complaint. He simply was not that kind of a person. Seeing Dad's hands resting so kindly and naturally on Peggy's shoulders confirms what I knew and felt all along: my Dad may not have been the best at expressing affection, but the love that he had for his family was very much present nonetheless.

I love that about the photo, and of course, I love the very natural and relaxed smiles.

I saw those smiling faces a thousand times over through the years, and I am very happy that I will now be able see them a thousand times more, on the wall across from me.

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