Happy Sixth Birthday Brannon!

 

Time Machine: Dear Family...

This date is a guess. I wish there were a date on this letter I found among my Mother's correspondence. I suspect Brannon dictated this to me when she was 4-6 years old. It was written before she totally gave up calling me "Papa" under the influence of her "Kid's Stop" and McHenry kindergarten friends who called their fathers "Daddy".

One of the things she describes is what she and I called "acrobatics". It began with her cousin Larisa in the early eighties and has continued to the present (2023) with any 5-7 year-olds in the family. The child runs across the yard toward me from the side as I project both forearms before me . The child grabs my left arm, swings his/her legs up and over my right arm to swing by the knees till I bring him/her back upright and she/he dismounts with a grand smile and a shouted "Ta-dah!" Clemmie, Ruth, and I have just recently given it a try.

Those dance positions were an obsession for a while.

Brannon also mentions our stories. I used to invent impromptu and at least partly plagiarized stories usually starring Brannon and/or Lillian and other friends and relatives. I had totally forgotten "Terry and the Dinosaur" -- I have no idea of the plot. I vaguely remember a whole series of stories inspired by C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. On the spur of the moment I named our fantasyland Tanzania. Later, as new episodes were demanded, I tried to slightly alter the name so that it wouldn't share a name with a real location! I remember that instead of a wardrobe entry our first and most frequent door to "Tanzintennia" (or something like that) was a bottomless tide pool at the beach. Under certain conditions when we jumped into the pool we'd just pass right out of its bottom into a new land. But sometimes we made our imaginary way through the crawlspace behind the wall of the girls attic bedrooms and other surprise fantastic portals. 

I don't remember "the Sad Part". 

I suspect the stories were pretty lame but Brannon and Lillian loved them. 

Jackson Irvin Baird

 

Jack Baird and Porterdale friends in Atlanta

Jack Baird, one of my mother's older brothers.

Jack Baird and his wife Georgia

Time Machine: Trinity Kids c. 1989

Copied from Carol Payne's Facebook, February 9, 2017

That's my baby on the left and little Lisette next to her.

Time Machine: Brannon's Art at Five

The caption I wrote for Brannon on this kindergarten masterpiece: "Lillian pulling up holding Papa's fingers - 1-29-89
6 mos. 2 days old - by Brannon"

Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger was a story I often told Brannon. Here she drew "Obie Yoyo" chasing her cousin Amanda.

Another of her favorite storybooks was The Hungry Thing. Here she illustrates that story.