Pictures I Didn't Take

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Sometimes I get a little nostalgic (it's an old age thing) then I start thinking of pictures I wish I or someone had taken. They're in my head, like the old horse named "Jude" who had white whiskers when they finally turned him out to pasture. I remember him standing at the fence, waiting patiently for Daddy to come back out and pick up the reins. I remember the time I sideswiped Daddy's car when I was learning to drive. The horror of it sticks in my mind. The scratch is a picture that will never go away. Another picture I wish I had happened one morning when the kids were ready for school. My son sat on the couch on my left side and my youngest daughter sat on the right side. I put my arms around them both and wished I could hold them forever. Maybe the picture I wish I had the most is one of Mom the day she found out her son, my brother, died in Viet Nam. Mom was "stoic" but her eyes told the story. There is nothing harder to take for anyone than a child who dies, but to have one die far away from home in a violent yet valiant way has to be the hardest. That picture would have become a classic for anyone who understood. All those pictures of life that I wish I had taken can never be brought out and showed to anyone. They are in my mind and there they will stay, cherished and protected.