alittlenews

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) yells in jubilation after a review proves an A&M touchdown during the first half of the first SEC meeting between Texas A&M and Alabama Saturday, November 10, 2012 in Tuscaloosa.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This photo is, perhaps, my favorite football image of the year.  It captures the raw emotion of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel who was propelled to the forefront of the Heisman Trophy race by this game against Alabama.  If you cover a lot of football you will know the helmet usually stays on the player’s head.  Getting quality shots of a player showing his face is not as easy as you might think so I am doubly pleased with the emotion and that I can see his face.

Texas A&M was on a roll in the first quarter against Alabama.  The Crimson Tide was coming off of a dramatic win over rival LSU in Death Valley and this game was what you would call a “trap game,” meaning, Alabama could very possibly get caught napping after an emotional win the week before.  Alabama was favored in the game by about 14 points if my memory is accurate.  Johnny Manziel must not have read the papers.

Manziel had the Aggies up by a touchdown early in the game.  Then he added a second touchdown.  Then a third and before you know it, A&M leads mighty Alabama 20-0 in the first quarter at home.  One of those touchdowns went under review.  Replay reviews are times to take a nap or review your images and tag the good stuff.  I caught myself napping like almost everyone else while they did the review.  Then I noticed Manziel had his helmet off and was looking at the replay on the big board.

I got my camera up and ready.  As soon as the ref announced to the stadium the touchdown was good Manziel gave this great reaction, no helmet, and his emotion came through loud and clear.  Alabama woke up after the first quarter and mounted a steady comeback.  The game tightened.  The Bama defense only gave up nine points the rest of the game but it would be too little too late as A&M held on for a 29-24 win and Johnny Football cemented his reputation and legacy in that one quarter in Tuscaloosa.  It provided him with his Heisman moment and helped him be the guy on stage hoisting the Heisman Trophy.  It helped me too.  I got a picture that was widely published both after the game and with the coverage of the Heisman Trophy.  And, all’s well that ends well, Alabama recovered from the loss and still made it to the National Championship Game.

This is it; the final installment in the Twenty Moments series for this year.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about these photos and the stories behind them.  I also hope you have some stories of your own to tell.  Go make some pictures!

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Dempsey McLemore jumped into Normady with the 82nd Airborne Division during the D-Day invasion in World War II. Dempsey was later captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

To say I love shooting portraits of veterans would be like saying Santa likes milk and cookies.  There is something about veterans that draws me and I want to honor those men and women for what they have done for me.  I can only do that with a camera so I will put forth my very best effort when I am photographing veterans.

Dempsey McLemore jumped into Normandy on D-Day with the 82nd Airborne Division.  I don’t have time to tell you the story in this blog but read a book.  Seriously!  These men did something that is beyond courageous.  He and thousands of other paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines during the night before the invasion ships were to land troops on the beaches of Normandy.  Their job was to cut off the German troops at the beaches and prevent reinforcements from coming forward and they were to secure key features such as bridges so the invasion force, once landed, could move inland.  It was a daring operation carried out by daring men.  McLemore was one of those men.

Put yourself in his shoes for minute flying into the target area.  You would be sitting in the back of a transport plane flying through the black night when, suddenly, anti-aircraft fire begins erupting all around you.  Planes are hit.  Some planes disgorge their troops before they reach their drop zones.  Other planes are blown to bits, men and all.  When your door opens you stand in a file and go out the back door into the pitch black night illuminated now only by exploding munitions and tracer rounds being fired from gunners on the ground.  When you finally hit the ground in one piece you have to find your unit in the dark on unfamiliar ground and then get organized and get into the fight.  Congratulations.  You are a soldier now.

McLemore accomplished all that.  He was later taken prisoner by the Germans.  He survived, came home, married, had a family and now is living out his days in Limestone County, Alabama.  What can one say?  Thank you Mr. McLemore seems a bit inadequate doesn’t it.

McLemore is now nearly blind and is mostly confined to his wheelchair but we managed to get him outside where I could get the sky in the photo.  I had to have the sky.  What else would be appropriate for a former paratrooper?  I lit the shot with a strobe fired through a small softbox and used a second strobe on a stick, bare, to give just a tiny bit of separation on the back side.  I then took another set of photos of this small, tattered American Flag I found literally laying beside the road and combined them in Photoshop.  I thought the flag added just the right touch.  Obviously, I set the opacity pretty low on the flag and used some Photoshop filters and toning to give the flag the appropriate look.

It would be great if we never had to go to war again.  It would be great if no man, woman or child lost his life to a tyrant.  It would be great if the nations and peoples of this world would just get along with one another.  As long as we don’t, I am very glad that men like Dempsey McLemore exist.  Freedom lives in men like him.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Clifford Sims celebrates his 100th birthday Thursday, October 18, 2012 at Riverside Senior Living in Decatur.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR.  THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This assignment began life as an advertising assignment.  Yes, we do shoot these too.  For those of you who are hard core photojournalists you see the immediate conflict of interest; however, our ownership has never seen that so we do shoot ads from time to time.  I suppose in a small, community newspaper you do pretty much what you have to.  That said, I am not over fond of shooting advertising.  I try to approach an ad assignment with every bit of energy I approach anything else with because I do still enjoy eating and doing photojournalism and advertising is what enables that to happen.

This particular ad assignment was for a 100th birthday party at one of the assisted living facilities in Decatur.  You just never know how mobile and lucid someone is going to be at 100.  I have done several assignments over the years for 100 year olds and they have run the gamut.  Some of them are remarkable in their mental and physical dexterity and others are little more than a shell of their former selves.

Let me just say, Clifford Sims was remarkable in every sense of the word.  I knew the photo I wanted was going to be him blowing out the candles, if he were capable.  As soon as I saw him I knew I was going to get a nice photo.  Sure enough, Mr. Sims bent over that cake to blow out the candles like a man turning 70 rather than 100.  I got two very nice frames.  I continued shooting the party and this very remarkable man who used to lead singing at his church entertained the crowd by joining in a gospel trio with his former pastor and another man and singing hymns.

Obviously, this assignment had risen above what I expected and I knew I could turn in a very nice feature photo for news in addition to a beautiful selection of images for the advertising department.  It is good to keep an open mind about everything you shoot and it is good to keep a positive attitude as well.  You never know when something basic will turn into something wonderful or when it will lead you down a new path or put you on the trail of a new story.  None of that will happen if you blow in and blow out and just do minimums.  If you have been reading the blog long you know I say all the time do you best on every job every time and let every assignment make you better.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Girls racing in the Gold Division sprint through the first turn which held thick mud and standing water during the 14th Annual Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic Invitational at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park Saturday, October 6, 2012.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic Invitational at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park is a huge, high school cross country event now in its fourteenth year.  Jesse Owens, the noted Olympian, was born in a sharecroppers shack about a mile from where the race happens in the rural Lawrence County community of Oakville.  It literally draws thousands of cross country runners from across the south.

Covering cross country can be a tremendous challenge, first because it can be terribly boring from a visual standpoint.  There is nothing to break the visual monotony of the running stride.  If you don’t happen to know the course you will have no idea where to shoot from to get the best images so you end up hanging around the start or finish lines.  The event gets very spread out as the race progresses, especially in a high school event where the disparity between the best runners and the worst ones are measured in minutes, not seconds.  Finally, even at a relatively short distance of 5K, the course is spread out over three miles so, even if you want to roam around, there are logistical difficulties.

For the race this year, there were more than logistical difficulties, it was raining, cold and just plain nasty.  The parking area turned into a four wheelers paradise but a nightmare for folks in regular automobiles.  The course was soaked and it was still raining.  Confession time: I kinda like that nasty stuff.  Weather is always fascinating to me and combining nasty weather and sports is just plain fun.  Well, except for keeping the camera dry, and keeping me dry and staying warm.  Maybe I liked that kind of weather better when I was younger.  Still, you can make some pictures in bad weather.

I have done the Jesse Owens a few times before but there is always a catch.  I never have enough time to hang out and do it justice.  This day was no exception.  I had about thirty or forty minutes of shooting time.  From the times I have been there in the past I knew I could fill my quota by shooting in two spots that are fairly close together.  The first turn is a great place to get the pack still bunched up.  The last turn is also good giving the runners a 180 degree turn to the finish line.  The final turn is where the runners go into their kick to the finish so you can get good stuff there.

This year, with all the rain, there was a huge, huge mud puddle, almost a mud lake, in turn one.  I tried shooting from a slightly elevated spot just beyond the first turn where I had success before.  It just didn’t look right so on the second race I got on a wide lens and got down near the mud.  Much better.  As this group of girls ran past I laid down on the shutter while the largest cluster moved past.  There were three nice frames with this one being the best.  You get mud and water splashing everywhere with girls looking like they would rather tip toe through the muck than run through it.  I couldn’t ask for much more than that.

Okay, okay, I confess, I did wish one of them would fall right in front of me.  I know, that is just nasty.  I don’t want any injuries, just a big, big splash down!  Obviously, I didn’t get that or you would be seeing it instead of this frame.  Photographers are such nasty dudes and dudettes but you would have been thinking the same thing so put down the rocks.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Ontario McCalebb is wrapped up and tackled by several LSU defenders during the first half of Auburn’s game with LSU Saturday, September 22, 2012.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

College football is fairly important down here in the south and nowhere will you find folks who place a greater importance on college football than in the state of Alabama.  It is almost as important to know who you root for as it is know whether you are a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ or any of the sundry flavors of the Faith. I am surprised there isn’t some kind of blank you have to fill in our your driver’s license application.

By any definition, Auburn had an awful year on the football field.  It started bad and ended ugly and Gene Chizik and staff lost their jobs.  The Family that was “all in” a couple years ago was now all out.  Sometimes things spiral completely out of control and this was one of those years for Auburn.

Some of you reading this blog don’t live in the great state of Alabama so you don’t understand what this means.  Let me explain.  When you move here you are expected to declare your allegiance.  You will be asked some derivation of the question, “Who do you go for?”  What your inquisitor means is, are you going to be for Alabama or for Auburn.

I baffle those folks because I was born here and I have always pulled for both Alabama and Auburn, maybe Bama a little more than Auburn but I always hope both teams do well.  In fact, a perfect football year for me would have both teams coming into the Iron Bowl unbeaten.  This wasn’t one of those years and the Auburn faithful kept a stiff upper lip in the face of all that adversity.  I thought maybe, just maybe, Auburn would put up a fight in the Iron Bowl and save Chizik’s job.  Just the opposite happened.  This Iron Bowl was about the worst football game I have ever seen between legit Division I schools.

Rewind to the Auburn vs LSU contest.  There was still hope Auburn might turn the season around.  They played a great football game on defense against LSU but couldn’t muster any offense.  That was the story of the season.  The photo on this page is not a great peak action shot but, as far as any action photo can convey the feeling of a season, I felt this one did.  The LSU defense has Ontario McCalebb all wrapped up and is bringing him down.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Trudy Amon talked about jumping from an airplane on her 80th birthday for years. She fulfilled her dream and embraced the sky on her 80th birthday this past Monday jumping in tandem with an instructor at Cullman Regional Airport.  COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Trudy Amon is a delightful young woman of 80.  I hear that birthdays are just numbers, your age is actually determined by your attitude.  If that is true, then Trudy is about 18 years old.  She told us she had wanted to jump from an airplane for years and always told her family if she reached 80 then she would jump on her 80th birthday.  You go Trudy!

And jump she did.  Unfortunately, no one thought to call us in advance.  We found out about the jump just after her birthday and went to her house to do a story sans parachute and airplane.  Now you know the problem.  I am guessing she wouldn’t be jumping off the porch roof for us so I had to come up with a picture that would capture something of the adventure and something of the personality of this amazing lady.

I always like having sky and clouds and even the sun in my photos.  It has never bothered me shooting straight into the sun, at least not since I understood how to use strobes effectively.  On the drive out, I was daydreaming how to get that beautiful sky in the photo.  I arrived to find the property engulfed in trees, tall, tall trees.  I walked around for a few moments and decided on this location.  I set up a Lumedyne strobe in a small softbox and brought Trudy out.

I wanted her to look like she was flying, or at least look like she was remembering flying, through the air.  I asked her to lift her arms for me.  I shot and shot and twisted the camera around to get it in the best spot and shot and shot and twisted the camera around some more.  Finally, I arrived at this.  I was very happy with the image, especially considering the difficulties in the location, the set up and the fact she wasn’t jumping.

A big shout out to her grandson who acted as my VAL (voice activated light stand).  He had to lift the strobe and softbox on a light stand and lean it right out over his grandmother as if he were a boom stand.  Well done young man.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Ashleigh Holt cries as she hugs her brother Tyler and sister Skylar during the deployment ceremony for the 152nd Military Police company of the Alabama Army National Guard unit based in Hartselle Sunday, June 24, 2012 at the Sparkman Civic Center. Their father, Travis Holt, is at left.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Over the years of this very long war I have shot a few deployments and a few more homecomings.  There is always great joy at the homecomings and some intense emotion at the deployments.  Unfortunately, I have also covered a few more somber homecomings.  I am a big believer in historical perspective so I want to dole out a bit here.

We have lost more than 6,600 soldiers killed in action during the Iraq/Afghanistan campaigns.  Each death is tragic but, let’s be honest, the sense of national tragedy has long since gone.  We don’t make a big deal in the news reporting the deaths of individual soldiers and you mostly don’t hear about the war anymore.  Think back a couple of generations to an America at war during World War II.

More than 300,000 American soldiers were killed in action during WWII.  That is a staggering figure.  Every person in America would have known someone who was killed or would have known a family who had someone killed.  There were an additional 700,000 wounded.  We are talking about one million casualties.  How do you think that would go over in today’s America?  That one war claimed more than 60 million lives world wide.

I don’t know how we would handle it as a nation but I do have a pretty good idea how the soldiers would handle it.  They would do what their fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers and great great grandfathers have always done.  They would shoulder their weapons and go do the job.  That is what this photo is all about.  This time; however, our women are going to war too.  Ashleigh Holt hugs her brother and sister while their father stands behind them, head down.  He must have been a mess of emotion, proud of his daughter and also terrified at the thought of what could happen.

That is the feeling of all who are left behind while loved ones go off to war.  The soldier may have some control of their own fate, at least, they may think they do.  A parent or sibling or wife or husband or child left at home has no such illusion.  They only have the nagging doubt and fear until their loved one comes home again.  God bless our soldiers but, wow, God bless our soldier’s families too.

Ashleigh Holt’s Army National Guard unit is an MP unit.  I don’t think they were being deployed to a direct combat theater.  It doesn’t really matter.  All it takes is one suicide bomber and the war is right in front of you regardless of where the supposed front lines are.  It is Christmas time in America.  I hope our troops serving around the world know we care about them, know we are praying for their safe return and know we appreciate their service.  As a new year dawns, I also hope we bring our soldiers home, all of them, and soon.

Speaking of the photograph, this is probably my second favorite photo of the year after the photo of Greg and Coco.  I shot the entire deployment ceremony mixing stills and video and waiting for the end of the assembly.  When the soldiers are dismissed they usually go to family members for hugs and kisses and then you see the emotion.  I felt a little bit like a vulture or something waiting for the emotion shots.  I was pretty aggressive about it because I feel strongly our soldiers should not be ignored.  What they are doing is too important.  The sacrifices their families are making is too important.  We must see the emotion.  We must look and we must not forget.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Taylor Smith looses her hat as she throws the rope while competing in the breakaway roping event during slack day at the Limestone Sheriff’s Rodeo Thursday, May 17, 2012.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Well, we come to one that is painfully obvious.  I like this photo because I have a picture of a pretty girl roping her hat!  I guess you can’t ask for much more than that.  Slack Day at the Limestone Sheriff’s Rodeo is quickly becoming one of my favorite assignments.  It is a visual bonanza, pun intended for those of you old enough to understand, right out there in broad daylight, dare I say it, at high noon!  Okay, enough with punning.

To be completely honest, I have no idea what the term “slack day” means.  I have only done this event two or three times and I am not up on rodeo terms.  What I do know about slack day is anyone can compete.  All you have to do is pay your fee and ride.  Most of the cowboys, err, cowgirls, both, whatever!, are pros riding on a professional rodeo circuit and collecting points toward the championship.  Some people on slack day are definitely not pros.  They do make for some good photos though!

Taylor Smith is the cowgirl in this event and she is part of the tour.  I shot her barrel racing too.  Plus, I got a nice feature type shot of her sitting on her horse and texting.  I guess you can text anywhere and I don’t reckon there are laws prohibiting texting and riding.

This was one of the first assignments I shot after receiving a new Nikon D4.  I learned a lot about the camera.  I learned it is amazingly fast!  I also learned the meter was amazingly inconsistent.  This photo, for instance, is almost too overexposed to save.  I had it set to evaluative metering and probably aperture priority and it very nearly blew the exposure.  That is still a problem after using the camera for nine months.  I drives me crazy.  This day was simply the first day of crazy metering.

Taylor was competing in a calf roping event.  The boys have to lasso the calf then leap from the saddle and get the calf to the ground and rope the feet together.  It took me forever to realize the girls didn’t have to dismount and do all that.  The girls throw the rope and if they lasso the horns they score.  If not, they don’t.  At least, that is the nearest I can figure it.  I guess the rodeo is sexist.  I mean I would have loved to see one of these girls jump down and flip that calf on its back and rope those feet.  Oh well, I am only a guy.  What can I say.

I digress.  I was shooting with that D4 at 10 fps with focus and release priority set.  What that means is the camera will shoot even if it is not in focus but it does put an equal priority on focus and frame rate.  Translation, I wasn’t really getting 1o fps.  Every frame was sharp; however, even if the exposure was off.  I will say the AF tracking on this camera is nothing short of spectacular.  Taylor burst out of the chute and I laid down on the shutter trying to keep the AF sensor somewhere near the center of her body.  That is the only flaw for me.  When the hat flew off my composition was so tight I missed the end of the loop of the lasso.  You still get the idea but how cool would it have been if the entire lasso were visible?

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Deidra Ogle helps special needs students at Brewer High Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Ogle, right, looks into Ali Sosnowich’s eyes as Sosnowich laughs with her before lunch. Ogle has been so deeply affected by her volunteer work she has decided to graduate with the special needs students and has decided to become a physical therapist.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Deidra Ogle is a senior at Brewer High School in Morgan County.  She is a little different from many of her classmates in that she has dedicated herself to serve the special needs students at the school.  Okay, still, there are many kids who volunteer with special needs students around the country.  What sets Deidra apart is her decision to graduate with the special needs kids rather than her classmates.

Ever since my wife and I had a son with special needs I have been much more tuned in to that segment of our society.  I have noticed so many of the kids with special needs, indeed, even the adults with special needs, have something we could all use more of.  They seem to love like no so called normal person is capable of loving.  We like to call ourselves the normal ones but the more I am around people with special needs, the more aware I am of how badly we need them in our lives.

Many of you know my son, Reece, died unexpectedly just over three years ago.  He was two and he had Down syndrome.  He was an amazing lover.  I have said many times if there is an accurate picture of God’s love in this earth it was found in Reece.  That kid was a lover like no other.  I forgot all about the needs part and held onto the special part.  He was an extraordinary kid.

His life taught me many things but one of the best things he taught me is the worth and value of the lives of people who are not like me.  Society used to call these people “retarded.”  While that is an accurate description, they are after all socially, educationally and sometimes physically retarded in their development, it was an injustice to all people with special needs to shunt them aside and toss them into institutions and use the word “retarded” like some badge of shame.  People with special needs add a flavor to life we all need.

While there are some situations where the need is so intense the individual may have to be placed in an institutional care facility, there is so much we can gain from interacting with people who are in some way special.  In this photo you see Deidra helping a young lady  and there is that special smile on both their faces.  I have no idea what is going on inside the young woman’s mind.  (I often wished I could see the world through my son’s eyes.)  I do know something of what was going on inside Deidra’s.

She was seeing someone for who she was as a person, and she was enjoying it very much.  She was seeing through the disability and finding a human being capable of loving and being loved.  In that look, a world of love is passing between them.  That much I can see.  God help us be more like both of these young ladies.

Note to readers:  This series features the behind the photograph stories of images from the past year.  These are not always my best photos but they are photos that have some meaning to me.  Of course, sometimes that meaning is simply the photo was one of my best images.

Jennifer Adair was close to death laying in her Camden Court home April 27, 2011 as it was destroyed around her. Now she is a new mother having given birth to Lily Shiloh at the end of March. She feed Lily on a couch with a weather radio at arms lenght. Jennifer is now never far from a weather alert radio.  PHOTO COPYRIGHT GARY COSBY JR. THE DECATUR DAILY.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Jennifer Adair is a survivor and she has become a friend.  When I met Jennifer in June 2011, we were at the remains of her home in Camden Court in Limestone County.  She had survived a direct hit from the EF5 tornado in April.  Her house had been completely destroyed with her in it.  Jennifer rode out the storm laying on the floor in her bedroom closet.  When the tornado was gone, she was the only thing left above the floor.  The rest of her house was gone.  It lay in a heap or was scattered over the rest of the county.

Jennifer and her husband Brandon moved on, bought a new house in another neighborhood, then got hit by the March 2 tornado in their new house.  Two tornadoes in less than a year is just too much.  Fortunately, they were not at home when the second twister hit and their home suffered only minor damage.  Still, two in one year!

Jennifer was also pregnant.  When I saw her post about the second tornado on Facebook, I asked to do another story which she and Brandon graciously agreed to.  Jennifer also said when the baby was born we could come do another story.  She was due in April, just under a year after surviving the 2011 tornado.  Jennifer gave birth to a beautiful little girl they named Lily.  We went to do our story which very conveniently coincided with our one year anniversary coverage.

Jennifer was feeding Lily and I saw a weather radio sitting on the couch near her.  I made sure to get that in the photo.  We asked her about it and she said she is never far from a weather radio now.  She literally was keeping it within arm’s reach.  Jennifer told us how she was concerned about passing along the lessons she has learned to help her baby girl grow up safe.

If you read the blog much you may remember her telling how lessons learned from the April 3, 1974 tornado helped save her life.  She lost relatives in that storm, an aunt and cousins she never had the chance to meet because they died before she was born.  Those hard earned family lessons were passed down to her as part of the family tradition.  She remembered them when her own April came around.  Out of a situation that could easily have killed her, she survived and brought a new life into the world.  Who knows what Lily and any future children may grow up to be.  I don’t think it matters.  Lily is here and Lily is loved.

By the way, Jennifer is the first person to ever be featured in two Twenty Moments posts.  She was in last year’s as well.  Here is the link to that story:  http://alittlenewsphoto.com/?p=5758