Story of the Day 5/ 13/ 2014 #2

My older brother has three children.
The last time I saw them was when his youngest was 5.
She is no longer 5.

I speak with my brother often, and I often get to speak to his wife and children, on the phone.
I speak to them, sometimes more than once a week, but actually seeing them doesn't happen.
We have busy lives and his is led in California, and mine in Indiana.
As a result, his kids grow and change and I beg for pictures.
And I beg.
And I beg.

He sent some.
Three.
The most recently sent one was when his oldest daughter was about 5.
She is now in high school.

That doesn't mean that I haven't seen any photos of them. I have the photos I took the different times I have seen them.
The most recent time being when the youngest , Laura, was 5.
This is certainly more recent than when his oldest was 5. Unlike his eldest, his youngest is not yet in high school, she is only in 5th grade.
So, as you might have guessed, I am left guessing what his children look like.

Until today, when everything changed.

My mother is visiting ( from New York). I see her quite a bit more frequently than I see my brother and his family.
New York is closer. Slightly
And because of my mother, I have now seen photos - lots and lots of photos of my brother and his family from as recently as last year.
Last year, my mother spent a month with them
On vacation.
In Vietnam.

Now, my mom has not been out here , to Indiana, to visit us in years. Soon, it will be seven years. Whoops. make that eight years.
That doesn't mean I haven't seen her.
First of all, she is much better than my brother at sending photos.
Also, we have travelled and seen my mother, in New York, where she lives, but also in St. Louis and other spots where other family lives.

So we see her more frequently, in real life and in photos.
But not my brother and his family.
And when my mother sees my brother and his family at least once a year, I usually beg for photos of them, which she does not send.
Apparently, whatever the disease my brother has regarding photos of his family, it is contagious.
But, as I mentioned, she does send me photos of herself.

I really can't complain that she goes out to visit my brother and his family much more frequently. Espiecially since doing so means that they take her off to a month long tour of a foreign country.
While my idea of treating her to a nice vacation, when she comes to visit us ( like now), is to drive her to visit a cousin in a small town and to go shopping at WalMart.
You can clearly see how my vacation-spot offerings pale in comparison.
Sigh.
Maybe this is also why my brother prefers to visit other places/relatives.

And on the all -expenses-paid-for by my brother and his wife vacation in Vietnam, last summer, my mother took lots and lots of photos.
Of three very gorgeous , very much larger than I remember them kids.
No, she did not send them to me, even though I asked for them, last year.
And I asked several times.
Although, she has sent me , since that trip, at least half a dozen photos of herself.
And a video.

But, my mother, who will be 80 in a few months, has acquired a laptop.
And on this visit, she brought it.
So I have seen photos.
Recent photos of my brother and his family.

And they are gorgeous,
And a lot bigger.
A lot.

Now, if I can figure out how to get some of them off of her laptop....