Leif & His Dad - December 1976 - 23 Months Old

I was looking for some photos taken at this time of the year (saving the Christmas ones for a few days) and found this sweet one of Leif kissing his daddy. I've written before that Leif wasn't a particularly affectionate child, so moments like these were doubly precious. I caught a couple of them between Peter W. and Leif, but I don't think there are any of him kissing me, partly a matter of it happening fewer times, but even more a matter of who happened to have a camera ready.

When this was taken, we were living in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Peter W. was attending the Judge Advocate General's School to get graduate degree in military law. It was a good year and we enjoyed Charlottesville, though that was the year that Leif started banging his head out of frustration when he was bored. I think I've written about that in a previous post.

Since Leif was always so big for his age, and was over six feet tall since he was in seventh grade, it's almost a shock, and very endearing, to see him so small next to his dad.

As we get ready for Christmas this year, I know it's going to be hard to be without him. Today we went to the tree lighting ceremony for our community association, put on by the German-American Club (we are members). They sing carols in German and English, and then serve Christmas cookies and Stollen (German Christmas bread). This was Peter W's fourth year to go and my third, and I didn't expect to find it difficult, but I got choked up and teary-eyed and couldn't sing several of the songs. I just kept remembering my dear, sweet little boy at our Christmases in Germany in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Leif and the Kitty - Virginia - 1976

His whole life, Leif loved cats. Maybe he got that from me. He sure didn't get it from his dad. They say some people are cat people and some people are dog people. I grew up with dogs (and many other animals) as pets, but as an adult, I chose cats.

From the time Leif was tiny, he was fascinated by cats, and I think he loved not only their feline beauty but their independence and their wonderful cuddliness. Leif loved things to cuddle!

This photo was taken when we lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, where his dad was attending the Judge Advocate General's School, where army attorneys are trained. We were there from the summer of 1976 to the summer of 1977.

We lived in a townhouse in a development that had a small lake behind us and a nice woods we could hike in across the street.

This cat wasn't ours. We never knew who he belonged to, but he showed up in our enclosed back patio area occasionally, always to Leif's delight.

Leif was about a year and a half old in this photo.