I call this pen and ink drawing “Family Tree.” We all have one, a family tree, that is. We may not know all the ancestors that belong on the branches or much about the roots from which we come, but still we have a family tree to which we belong. This is an actual tree in the backyard on Turkey Creek that I named “Family Tree” long before I ever drew it because of its two trunks, mom and dad, and three offshoot branches, our three kids, growing from the trunks. This one represents my immediate family. The extended family tree would be so much larger, with many more branches! I don’t know if I could ever find a tree big enough to draw that would capture the size of the family from which I am a mere offshoot. Nevertheless, when I sit in the backyard and look at my “Family Tree” I can’t help but become quiet and still, listening for the echoes of our family’s growing days. I can hear the boys catching fiddler crabs in the mud and my daughter jumping on the trampoline.
Snippets and Snatches 