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Days in the Lives of Jethro Gibbs and Family

Chapter 12    Photo Albums

When we found out that we were having the babies we were so excited.  We wanted to tell everyone about this fantastic news.  Never in our wildest dreams did we think that this would ever happen to us. Margie thought that she was too old to have kids and since her period had been hit or miss the last several months she thought that her baby making time was over.  Her body has taken quite a beating through the years but like a Timex watch ‘it takes a licking and keeps on ticking’.

Even though we were surprised about the pregnancy we were also overjoyed.  I never thought that I would be a father again and Margie didn’t think that she would ever be a mother.  Too bad that my dad didn’t live to see this he would have been so happy.  Of course losing Shannon and Kelly was a tragic blow for me but also for my dad.  He lost his only grandchild.  To know that soon he would have two more grandchildren would have delighted him.

While Margie was pregnant with the twins she decided that we should create photo albums of our families for the children.  She would create one of her and her parents ranging from when she was a baby and on up to the present.  I was instructed to do the same for my side of the family and additionally I was to include pictures of Kelly so that the twins could know about their older sister.  And it follows that if we have pictures of Kelly then we would also have pictures of Shannon. As to my other wives, Margie drew the line to exclude them unless there were some other children that I had not told her about but I assured her that Kelly and the two babies that she was carrying were the only children that I had fathered.

Margie did meet my dad and we visited with him in Stillwater. During one visit she saw a picture of me with Shannon and Kelly that was pretty rare because I was usually the one taking the pictures.  Margie asked my dad for a copy of that picture and he agreed.  She also requested pictures of him and my mother. She wanted to have keepsakes of my life.  My dad asked her, “Alexis, why do you want the pictures?”  She replied quite seriously, “Because I want to know what Jethro’s made of and from where he comes. Since I will never meet his mother in this earthly realm I want pictures of her to get a glimpse of the woman that she was.  Not that the pictures will give me a true account of the totality of Ann Gibbs but they will give me a hint.  Since Ann and Jackson Gibbs are the parents of Leroy Jethro Gibbs then Leroy Jethro Gibbs is made up of Jackson, Ann and Leroy Jethro. Having pictures of all three persons gives me a better understanding of this man that I married.  He’s the only husband that I will ever have so I want to do right by him so I need to know what he’s made of so that I don’t do anything to hinder or hurt him.”

After Margie said all of that my dad rushed upstairs and came back with a box of pictures.  During that visit we sat and looked at pictures; Margie took notes about some of the pictures; she chose pictures; and went to the copy center to make copies because she refused to take Dad’s originals.

When we returned home I started organizing my photo album. I must admit that it was a bit hard for me to go through the pictures of Shannon and Kelly but I did.

Some evenings during her pregnancy Margie would sit on the sofa in the living room and flip through the photo albums and talk to the babies inside of her.  She would talk about the pictures and when the babies were born she repeated this process so that by the time that they were about three and the ‘pod people’ had released them from the ‘terrible twos’ both Richard and Nicole could tell you who the people in the pictures were.  

So I guess that the photo albums were a good idea.  Now that we have the twins we created photo albums about them also with additional videos.  When we think that they are old enough to understand we will show to them Kelly’s photo album. But until then,

Richard Joseph and Nicole Meredith Gibbs know that they are the children of Leroy Jethro and Alexis Marjorie Gibbs.  Leroy Jethro is the only child of Jackson and Ann Gibbs and Alexis Marjorie is the only child of Thomas and Amanda McGregor.