Meet Hambone and her friends

I was inspired to create this by a quote in a book by reality television star and celebrity dancer Sadie Robertson called Live Original: "No one can choose their family, but all of us can choose our friends.  Whether or not you have a great family or a family you think is not so great, you can still choose awesome friends." 

That leads to Hambone, who has butted heads with the rest of the house because of her laidback attitude toward life.  Buddy Wayne belittled her by not allowing to go around New Jerusalem before the big show without a chaperone, Brenda hates it that she enjoys the occasional beer, and she has battled Brandy for quality time with Annie (and resents it because Annie is Hambone's mother).  So what to do?  Make some good friends and make sure to have their back.

I based the frame of the photo on one I found in (the real) Brittany Barefoot's photo gallery on Facebook; this was from a party for the Greenwood High School senior class of 2008.  Part of the picture was washed out and dim so some adjustments were needed to make it more presentable.  Then I substituted the original faces with these six:

• Sammy Bizzell: Nancy Bowling, junior softball pitcher, University of Arizona
• Carlie McLamb: Kelsey (don't know her last name), student at Union University in Tennessee
• Elizabeth "Beth" Barefoot: Her late namesake who lived in Clinton, NC
• Reba Pearl "Hambone" Barefoot: Alyssa Barefoot, Meadow, NC
• Laura Jean Johnson: Brandy Rapp
• Bellamy Wood: Bethany Bowling, teacher at Northern Kentucky University

And of course I had to replace Beth and Hambone's "shoes" with bare feet.:)

The backdrop photo was taken at the Hacker Martin Gristmill and Cantilever Barn at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, TN.  John Rice Irwin established the replica 1850s homestead and it is now a tourist attraction and an affiliate of the Smithsonian.