Throwback Thursday - Thanksgiving 1996

So much has happened to people in this picture since it was taken.

The picture was taken at the Strang family home in Warminster, PA by my father-in-law Lonny, who passed away this past April. The handsome gentleman on the right, Grandpa Strang was my husband's paternal grandfather passed away, and the lady second on the left - Grandma Van - has also passed away. All left empty spaces in our lives.

At the time the picture was taken my sister-in-law Cathy, third on the left, was still in college - she has since become an RN, gotten married and had two boys. My brother-in-law Kevin, at the end on the left, was in his senior year in college and after graduation moved to Texas in 1997 to teach music at an elementary school where he wound up meeting his wife and they have two girls. That's David, now my husband, on the back right - we were newly engaged to be  married a year later and he, of course, moved to Miami. The third on the right is me - since then, I got married and eventually lost both of my parents.  Next to me is my brother-in-law Rich, at that point he too was engaged to be married the following June, he and his wife have two daughters as well.

David and I spent this Thanksgiving at Rich's house. This time there were six "new" beautiful young faces ranging in age from 2 to 13, and sadly there were empty spaces of those we've lost. I'm so thankful for all of them, new and old, here and gone.