Feeling Oh So Nostalgic

Yesterday I poured through two full boxes of photographs and documents from my father's side of the family dating back to the mid 1800's. I found letters in my grandfather's handwriting sent from France and England during World War 1. I found wedding certificates for my grandparents and also my great grandparents. I also found more recent stuff like handmade Valentine's Day cards from myself and my siblings to my grandparents. I found a poem by my sister Lizzy that was constructed completely by cut out letters from magazines. From all the photographs and letters and evidence in the boxes we seem to come from a long line of love. There is photographs of many family outings and gatherings dating back to when women still wore dresses at ankle length. I did find one short note from a distant cousin who was trying to sort out some family tree business and she wrote of my grandmother's mother's family, "...they were a fighting family with no close ties and therefore little information.."
It quickly reminded me that we are now at odds and basicly fighting with my Uncle Richard for daddy's portion of the ranch. He has non-verbally claimed all the family home and treasures and surrounding property as his own. All the pictures in the boxes of my father and my uncle show two brothers who appeared to be inseparable from the time they were toddlers up until they were both drafted into the Army. My uncle has told me, "I looked up to Vic, he was my hero and I wanted to be just like him." I think now those words were a big lie. Richard didn't want to be like my father and couldn't if he tried. My father would never handle the ranch matter the way Richard has handled it. He would never be so selfish as to claim it all to himself and he would never stand by for years and watch his brother be miserable over not having the piece that was rightfully his.
There are things about my uncle that I adored as a child growning up. I thought he was incredibly handsome and talented. He took wonderful photographs and worked for a television station. I thought he was a celebrity. He was kind and soft spoken. He was gentle and had a very calming way about him. He was funny and fun to be around. He played the guitar and sang and he smoked a pipe. He was interesting. He married twice but never had any children, that we know of anyway. There were rumors he had indescretions that may have resulted in a child or two but nothing ever proved or spoken about anymore. Somewhere he lost sight of the very family that adored him. His brother's family, the only "real" family he has left. So now, we are a "fighting family." I've posted a few photos I took at the ranch this Fall. The place my siblings and I spent so many happy days in our youth is now a place of sorrow for us all.