Over the last few days, we traveled to Indiana for a family visit. Lots of laughter, togetherness, great food, football, and trips down memory lane.

Part way through the trip, a couple of boxes of old family photos came out. More of those photos will be shared over the next couple weeks, as will photos from the trip, but one photo took my breath away.  This photo, well, wow, just wow!

This is a photo of my grandmother. My grandmother who was the original Anna Belle Rose — and the namesake of my pen name for my novels. This was a publicity photo from when she was a professional dancer, and if you look in the lower right corner, you can see that she signed this photo.

My grandma is one of the most important women in my life. She has been gone for years, but every time I pick up my knitting needles, eat a bite of dark chocolate, or listen to the Red Sox, I think of her. She taught me to dance and knit, always believed in me, and never was too busy to listen to one of my crazy ideas. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish that she had lived so much longer than she did.

This picture rocks. What an incredible find tucked in with the normal type family photos.