My Sister

Let me tell you about my sister...Her name is Toni and today is her birthday...

She is the third child in our family and was born 3 years and 11 months after me. (Mama was very, very busy.) Much cuter and with a much more agreeable personality than I was gifted with, she was by far Daddy's favorite girl-child. She always had more friends than anyone else in our family. All our pets love her best.

--Just to show you how this worked at our house...when she read my post about my pet coati, she texted that she had always thought the coati was HER pet!!-- That's just how she was..so friendly, lovable and enigmatic with everyone and with her outlook on life. That is just her nature.

Of course, growing up, that means she got away with a lot...believe me...a LOT...

Strangely, I never really resented her for that. Granted, I did resent her for getting away with being messy in our shared bedroom (Mama finally had to draw a line, with chalk, down the middle of the room and tell us we each got to keep our side of the room the way we wanted.) And I truly hated her cats (on the farm we had at least half a dozen, and in Mexico, her cat ATE MY BUTTERFLY COLLECTION!!) But I didn't resent her for being cute and having friends...or not having to wash the dishes or not having to learn to cook, or not being responsible for the boys...I know it sounds like I did, but that is just my nature...I tend to not forget much....

Actually, I really admired and envied her, especially from the time we both left home and started out on our own. She always seemed to have her shit together so very much more than me...

-She got to live with Grandma and go to high school in California

-She graduated as an RN and got a good job right after

-She learned to drive and had a very cute red car as her first vehicle

-She got a really cute boyfriend (a few years younger than herself)

-She got the wedding she wanted, had 2 darling kids, and STILL HAS THE SAME GUY!

-She had a tight group of good friends to hang out with and travel and camp with

-She was always Dad's favorite, to the day he died

-She is the daughter who gets to sympathize and be kind and fun with mom (I have to

be the heavy...)

The day I realized how much I envied and admired her was the day I was riding in the back of Mom and Dad's truck, in the camper with my brother David, on the way to Minnesota to my brother, Rick's, wedding. We were speeding down I-90, when I heard a horn honking along side of us. Looking out the window of the camper, we saw Toni and our brother, Jon, tooting along in her cute little red car...AND I STILL HAD NOT LEARNED TO DRIVE A CAR!! That very day, I resolved to learn to drive! --If Toni could do it, so could I! And I did.

But I still hated that cat!!