Sunday, October 25, 2009

For My Val

I have some explaining to do. This is my cousin Valerie...Isn't she pretty?
She is the ORIGINAL Garlock Girl. See, there were 8 babies born in 3 years on the Garlock side. 7 of us were girls (Sorry Darren!) I ignorantly only refer to these 7 as the Garlock Girls. The truth is, Val is the older than all of us and there are even more pretty Garlock Girls younger than us. I just grew up so close to the ones close to my age that I have only referred to them.
I don't know why.
I consider myself fairly close to Val too. When I was 12, she moved to Utah to go to BYU. She took me to her apartment and let me help her set up house. Do you know how cool it is for a 12 year old girl to be in a college apartment?
So Cool!
When Val met her husband, they were never too busy to take us to a movie or to ice cream.
At Bass Lake (our annual Garlock family vacation) she would make up songs and dances for us younger girls. One of her songs is a classic and has not only had verses added to it, but has been taught to younger generations.
Now Valerie is a beautiful, patient and kind mom. I got to watch her and her husband Alan fall in love and have never seen anything less than that between them.
Sorry I haven't recognized you as a Garlock Girl Val, but know that I love and respect you more than my stupid blog lets on!

PS I know some of you may be confused. My maiden name is Claybaugh. Since my mom was an only girl, everyone else was a Garlock except our family. I love my Claybaugh name, but I'm still half Garlock!

2 comments:

Valerie said...

Kim, I am speechless. I did not expect you to make a "tribute". I have always felt such a bond with you girls, as I never had a sister. I am truly touched. It is funny how now that we are all moms, the age gap sort of shrunk a bit. Alison and Austin were toddlers together. We were pregnant with Addie and Justin together. I have so many memories of the younger years as well. We are so lucky as cousins to have had the time together that we did, and to have so many girls to hang out with!!! How lucky I was to have so many sweet younger cousins. Thank you. Thank you. I have tears in my eyes. I do that easily, it is a Garlock thing.

Cyndi said...

Val is wonderful. She never ages. What a beautiful family she has.