From the Vault: Black Sheep Edition

Recently I came across a few dusty old boxes of pictures and clippings that made me smile, so I thought it might be time to open the Vault again here on the OOBH. In this edition of From the Vault you'll probably end up asking "How the hell did La Bev come from such a nice, conservative family and become the pervy humor-monger that she is today?"

Well, my peeps, your guess is truly as good as mine, but I don't analyze it too much -- I sleep better that way.

This is a December 1971 edition of Life Magazine.

Featuring a my great-grandfather and my cousin -- holla for Scotland!

My grandmother and great-aunt both worked for Time Life in NYC, so I suppose that had something to do with how my great-grandfather and my cousin Mike were selected for this article. Together they represented Scotland in an article about immigrants and their American-born offspring. As you can tell if you read the article, my great grandparents were devout Covenanters from Scotland who worked hard, prayed hard, and exercised every day of their lives.

Something you probably don't know about the Bev -- I come from a very religious family. On my mom's side many of our relatives don't believe in drinking or dancing; they also sing in 3-part harmony at family gatherings, attend & teach at religious colleges, and go to foreign countries on missions from God. A few of them are scholars and published authors with multiple Ph.D.s, all in religious studies. Needless to say, all of our family functions involve tea, panty hose, and awkward conversations.

And then there's me, the picture of class, good taste, and constraint. ------->

*SNORT* I don't even go to church and frankly, I consider myself to be more spiritual than religious. It goes without saying that I like to get my party on and show off my killer dance moves every chance I get. If it weren't for the family resemblance and for the fact that my sister shares my ribald sense of humor, I'd think I was switched at birth!

So yeah, it's probably a good thing if Great-Granddad is busy playing golf with Ghandi in the after life and not checking in on his sweet great-granddaughter.

How about you guys -- do you come by who you are honestly, or are you a bit of a black sheep too?