Wow, another day with our temperature in the 90s. The Summer heat in Tennessee is pretty rough, and this is only the second day of Summer. Hot is one thing, but put high humidity in there and a person can’t breathe easily. We’ve been under a heat advisory lately and all this week our temperatures are supposed to be around 95 degrees. Not as hot as some people have it across the United States, but hot enough for me! The wind blows occasionally, but it’s a hot wind.

My husband has always said that we only have two full weeks of Springtime weather here in our area, then it jumps right into Summer. Many people in our area go to the beaches in Florida for their Summer vacations. They love taking family pictures while there on the white sandy beaches with the sea grass behind them. Lovely photos with precious memories.

My parents took my brother and me to the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee for a Summer vacation when I was about 9 years old and my brother was probably 6 years old. We have many great photos of that trip. We saw a mother bear and her cubs on a hillside along the highway. Many people stopped and watched the bears from up on the hill. To this day, I still wonder why that mother bear didn’t chase after some of the people gawking at her cubs. During that trip we hiked up Clingman’s Dome and took pictures there. I remember it being a long hike, but fun. Clingman’s Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,643 feet.

While on that trip we also went to Chattanooga and walked through Rock City. It was fun to look through the telescope at Observation Point and see the landscape of other states surrounding Tennessee. They claim you can see seven states from Observation Point. We saw Lover’s Leap and have a terrific picture from that vantage point. The staff that operated Rock City even had a long cardboard like advertisement attached to our car’s bumper that read, “See Rock City”.  I don’t remember how long we left that bumper sign our Chevrolet Impala, but it was like a badge of pride showing people where we were lucky enough to vacation.

Wherever you and your family travel this Summer, be sure to take a few photos for those precious memories. Even if you have a “staycation”, take some photos so you can remember the Summer of 2016. My brother passed away in February of 2002 and now I cherish those photos of him as a 6 year old little boy. The photos help me remember so many of the fun times he and I had while growing up.

Today would have been my brother’s  57th birthday. Ken was the best brother anyone could ever ask for. He had this laugh that was so unique, you couldn’t help but laugh along with him. I might not even think the particular situation he was laughing at was funny, but I always laughed too because his laugh was contagious.

Ken was born almost four years after me. I remember thinking that I wanted my mom to come home from the clinic where he was born, but not my baby brother. As you probably know, I was jealous. I was the center of attention up to that time and my mom and dad always made me feel so loved. At four years of age, I didn’t realize that my parents had more than enough love to give me and my brother.

We had a great childhood without too much drama. Kinda like one of those television shows such as Leave It to Beaver or Andy Griffith’s show about Mayberry. If we weren’t in school, we were at our Granny’s house or at church. Playing under the shade tree at Granny’s, riding bikes, or with our mom in the cotton fields. We even had a great dog that would lay in our yard near the road every afternoon just waiting for us go get off the school bus. I’m so thankful for the loving home our parents provided for us.

My brother absolutely loved playing with his toy trucks. He had many trucks that he played with almost every day. There were dump trucks, delivery trucks, tractors, and many other types. I remember many of them were Tonka trucks and he even had a toy truck that was like the ones used at the airport for picking up luggage. That truck even had several pieces of plastic luggage for pickup and delivery. One time my brother became very sick with a fever and my mom wanted to help my brother feel better. So, what did she do? She went out into our yard and dug up some dirt, put it in a box and brought it inside for my brother to put his toy trucks in and play.

My brother was the best guy. He would do anything he could to help people out. At one point in his life he worked for a local contractor in their electrical and plumbing shop. After hours he would go to elderly people’s houses and wash and clean out their window air conditioners. He helped many friends do the electrical wiring in their barns or shops and never expect to be paid. He helped friends in his spare time when he was off work from his job. As that old saying goes, “he would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it”.

One morning my mom called our house and told us that Ken had died. We were in shock! How could this be? Today is Valentine’s Day! A day to share love, not a day to mourn. He was fine yesterday, but gone today. Ken had died of a heart attack at the age of 42. The best brother anyone could ever hope to have. He was also my best friend. Forty-two years of life…gone in an instant. How I cherish all those memories we had together. The fun and excitement of just normal things like riding bikes, fishing, camping, joking, and him picking on me. I remember it all, especially the love, and the laughter accompanied by that huge smile!

Happy Birthday, Ken! I love you and miss you!