Family Christening - 1961

This photo appeared on facebook last week, having been posted by a friend whose father was a local photographer at the time. I don't remember ever seeing it, but it was obviously taken at an Anderson family Christening in front of St. John's Episcopal Church and includes many beloved and familiar faces from time gone by. Many of those present are no longer with us. Others have aged considerably. The small wriggling blond boy in his father's arms is my sister's first child. He is now a grandfather. Behind him is my pretty mama in a stylish hat, smiling upon her first grandchild. My grandmother is there, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is my family, as it was then. 

I am standing on the same step as my sister in my favorite pale green dress. I am straight and tall and self-confident: the ballerina of the family. I am sixteen, full of dreams of becoming a famous dancer, completely innocent of the life that would actually happen to me.