Small Family Portraits Poem by Jim Yerman

When our children were young and our family small…say gathered around a birthday cake
with all those smiling faces in one place…our family portrait was easy to take.

Our children and family have grown…and as life constantly rearranges
the family portraits…as they are meant to do…have mirrored all those changes.

They show how we've all grown and aged…
When we look at our family portrait we are aware
of the new family members who appear in the photo…and the old ones no longer there.

But now that our children and grandchildren have grown and scattered
not everyone is able to gather around a birthday cake…
and that family portrait…once so easy….becomes harder and harder to take.

So we've adopted this family portrait philosophy:
Since getting our entire family together is often difficult and rare…
we take a small family portraits with whoever happens to be there.

Throughout the year we take a host of these small family portraits…
and by the end of the year we're elated
when we spread all these photos before us and see the large family portrait we've created!

On those rare occasions the entire family is together…Oh, we'll snap a photo or two…
but, since these moments are rare…for the rest of the time…
these small family portraits will do.

With that in mind today I offer you our latest small family portrait…
look and you will see
our son Ryan, his wife Amy…and that's Deborah in front of me.

Follow us throughout the year and, like us, you will happily see
emerging form these small family portraits…
you'll find one large portrait of our entire family.