I'm the nice one who doesn't tell people how old you are LOL).I remember back to when I found out my mother was pregnant. I prayed so hard and so often for my mom to have a baby girl, that I have to believe there were even times when God said "ok little one, ease up...I go it, you want a sister.
I had a brother already, and it wasn't that I didn't like him, but I was 6 by the time he was born, so he stole my stage, my spotlight, all the attention I was so used to getting. At the time I was convinced it was because he was a boy, so a sister would have to be much better. Amazing how a child's mind works isnt it?
When it was time for my mother to go to the hospital, I was sent to stay with a good friend of my moms "Jan". Early the next morning Jan came into the room where her daughter and I were sleeping. She woke me up and said "Guess what. You have a new baby sister." I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was. I jumped up and down on the bed singing "I have a sister. I have a sister" far longer than Jan should have probably allowed, but she was so sweet and let me continue to do my excitement dance.
When Debi first came home and I saw her in the crib I remember talking to her and saying things like "As soon as you get big we can brush each others hair, and paint each others nails. When we can drive, we can go to movies together and go shopping together. It's going to be so much fun. What I didn't understand at the time is that we were 10 long years apart in age. That's a lifetime in childhood years.
When I was painting my toenails, she was discovering and chewing on hers. When I was brushing my hair, she was still growing in the peach fuzz. When I got old enough to drive, she was only allowed to see G rated cartoon type movies, and no respectable 16 yr old was going to be seen going in to one of those. And shopping.....forget about it. She never did like shopping, and still doesn't, well, at least not the marathon shopping that I enjoy.
But I still loved her very much through all those years. I took it on as my job to protect her. Our parents were divorced and our father was not what anyone would refer to as the Ward Cleaver type. He drank too much and could get pretty mean. I made it my job to be sure that he didn't do anything to her when we had to go visit him. It wasn't that I didn't want to protect my brother, but I didn't feel it was necessary. I was the one who go yelled at or hit, and I don't recall that ever happening to my brother, so to me that meant he had it in for girls. Therefore, if possible, I'd take the blame for something she did, so that she didn't get hurt.
After I graduated and later moved out, Debi wrote me the sweetest note about how much she was going to miss me. I still have that note in a small cedar box where I keep things that are special to me.
The funniest part for me is that my two girls share so many of the same qualities that Debi has. There are times they will curl their lip or stand a certain way and it takes me right back to younger days and for a brief moment I will swear I see Debi standing there.
So anyhow, Happy Birthday to you Debi. I hope it's one of your best ever! I love you.
1 comment:
Debi's 35. I'll blab.
ROTFL! She's the same age as me, so there, I told on us both.
Which means, if one were to do the math, they'd know how old YOU are...which would be the exact same age as my big sis. :D
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