Grandpa Stan

At some point, Aunt Carole and Uncle Tom gave me a Fisher-Price camera that I loved.  It had this disposable flashbulb attachment. I ran out of flashes so quickly. I think there were only six with each attachment. I think I got it right before my sister was born, around age 7 or 8.

I remember wanting to take photos of everything, especially because I knew that they wouldn't be developed into slides. My dad's photos were always done in slides and I hated that because I had to get out the viewer to see them. I wanted real photos on paper like my friends had. 

Taking the film in and waiting for it to get developed was a real exercise in patience. I remember taking the film to the little Fotomat house that was in the middle of the parking lot near Pathmark or Foodtown. Then, we'd have to go back and pick it up when it was ready. I couldn't wait. We had to go there often as being a little photographer was my latest thing.

Grandparents are usually good sports and play along with whatever you'd like to do as a kid. My grandpa Stan was no exception and he agreed to be my subject one time while we were visiting. He was in his favorite chair by the television.  The picture must have been taken around the mid 1980s.  

I think it was one of the last photos that we have of him. And, this is how I remember him when I think of him from time to time -- relaxed in his chair by television in the den. We had lots of lively conversations there with my parents and I on the two sofas nearby. 

He was an excellent story teller.  As a young child, I would sit in his lap and he would tell me stories that were sometimes real and sometimes not. I enjoyed hearing stories of his life in the Navy. When he passed away, my grandma Isabel adopted the spot as her own.