The best moment of my trip came when Daddy (Colin's maternal great-grandfather), Leslie (Colin's maternal grandmother), and I (Colin's great-aunt) sang "Tell Me Why The Stars Do Shine" to Colin. The traditional version I grew up with, not the scientific filk with some of the same words and all of the same tune.

Daddy sang the verse he used to sing to Mom as he drove the family home from Lake Michigan picnics and other outings of my childhood...a verse Leslie never heard before. IIRC, Daddy sings it as "I do believe that God above/created you for me to love/He picked you out from all the rest/And gave you to me to love the best."

The picture isn't of that moment, which came within an hour of when 10.5-week-old Colin Daniel met his great-grandfather, 86.5-year-old Daniel Squier Fitzgerald. As usual, click through and up to the Fitzgerald gallery for a few more shots of that amazing moment in our family's history.

I'm looking at you! This is what I traveled to see, to witness. This was why I went even after car problems meant I missed Jack's brunch. It's highly likely that Carl took far better photos of Colin Daniel in Daniel Squier Fitzgerald's arms the first time the two met, but I totally treasure having been there and capturing even a few rough shots of my own. My face pretty much matched Sara's the entire time. So much emotion in the moment, so much love.

Grandpa Waldo, Daddy, and Grandma Dorothy peeking behind 22 Grand Blvd, Christmas 1968. The chair looks still new, and there's not a puzzle on the walls. But oh, so familiar. Photo by Geri Fitzgerald Sullivan, who was still Mary Beth Fitzgerald at the time she took it. (Okay, just to satisfy those who know it's important: Waldo Emerson Fitzgerald, Daniel Squier Fitzgerald, Dorothy Squier Fitzgerald. Battle Creek, Michigan.

Yes, I'll start putting links in rather than embedding photos RSN. And I'll scan fannish photos, too. And figure out how my Flickr account works. Etc.

Right after I finish up a couple of other things.

Okay, make that several other things.

Onward.

(In the meanwhile, click on the photo to see it larger, then click again from the gallery to see it larger still. Yeah, the quality sucks, and 39.3 years haven't done the colors any favors either. Ctein could do wonders, no doubt. Me, I'm happy to have it digitized right now.)

Barry & Bethie Brother and sister, sittin' in a tree. Barry Allen Fitzgerald and Mary Beth Fitzgerald (Geri Fitzgerald Sullivan) in a tree at the roadside picnic area we often ate at when Barry was at Olivet College. Photo developed October 1966.