Take a look at these pictures that I have displayed on my family room wall. Take a good look ... they may look vaguely familiar to you. You may have seen one or more in frames at Walmart or Walgreens or other stores, you may have seen them in model homes, or maybe even in restaurants. It gives a whole new meaning to one of our favorite movie quotes ... "it came with the frame" (from the 'Burbs).
So you ask why I would have these pictures hanging in my family room? They are pictures of my 2 sweet boys, Brent and Tom, over 30 years ago. My brother, the professional photographer, took a bunch of pictures of my adorable children, and then shortly thereafter asked me to sign a release form, releasing all rights to these photos. As a naive young mother I did so, not ever thinking that they would appear again and again everywhere! Just last night, one of my Arizona buddies, LaDelle, was in Crackerbarrel Restaurant, and sent me a text message that said, "Brent and Tommy in Crackerbarrel!", and then sent me a copy of the first picture. One year, one of the boys saw a frame with the picture in it at a store they were at, so he bought it, wrapped it up, and gave it to the other one for a birthday gift. The reason for this phenomenon is that my brother ended up selling the pictures to ad agencies who sold them to clients who thought the boys were as adorable as I did, and in the meantime, he continued to collect the royalties, and I got nothing. So it seems ... but ... even though I may have not earned enough money to help put both of them through college ... I got something even better. I got to enjoy the live version of these 2 cute little boys, with their wonderful smiles and antics, who have brought so much joy into my life and have turned into handsome young husbands and fathers who dearly love their mother. So, who do you think turned out the richest?