If You Live To Be A Hundred...

It seems Lewis has borrowed our camera.

We took some time out of our day to get a family portrait to use on our Christmas cards. Our friend Carolyn Fedus, who takes awesome photographs as her hobby, agreed to meet us at the Comstock Covered Bridge.  It's funny that for as long as I've lived in Colchester, and the dozens of times I have driven by it, I'd never actually stopped to explore it before today.  It is one of three covered bridges remaining in Connecticut and was recently renovated. The bridge is open to pedestrian traffic only, it crosses the Salmon River, and provides some beautiful scenery.

Bernie looks forward to Sunday to relax and watch football. He hates having his picture taken and the amount of effort that is required to actually get a decent family photo. This is especially true since he believes that you can't call it a "family photo" unless it includes our dog, Jenny.  He was less than thrilled when I told him the plan, but came along because he knew that was what I wanted.

We took some shots in front of the bridge, some with the bridge in the background, and some by the river.  I think (hope) we got a few good ones, but I haven't had a chance to see them yet.  Trying to get the six of us to smile and look the same direction is definitely a challenge.  When we were next to the river, there was another family there taking pictures but they did not bring their photographer.  I offered to snap their photograph so all three of them could be in the picture.  Jack ended up sitting next to them for some of their pictures (I could not get him to move).  The picture of them where their son was smiling, is of course, one with Jack.  They said they were going to put him on their Christmas card even though they had never met us before - LOL.

While we were there, Carolyn ran into a man that she knows through some of her family members.  I am not entirely sure how we got on the subject, but he mentioned that his wife passed away a year ago in October.  They were about to celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary.  He said he yells at her even though she is gone, i.e. "why did you leave me?"  He said that being a widower is not something that you understand unless you go through it.  He is all alone in a large house they purchased together some time ago, and he misses her every minute of every day.  My heart really went out to this man, it was obvious that he still loves her very much.

Just like our family portrait would be incomplete without Bernie so would my life.  This brings me to one of my favorite quotes which sums up how exactly how I feel about this subject:

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."

 - A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh.