MY BIG SISTER

I have two big sisters, but since Lena is the only one living, I'm going to muse on her a bit.

Just 5 years older than I am... I've leaned on her experience and wisdom all my life.

She's been through so much in the last 10 years. Her health has been declining since her heart surgery - we have matching zippers on our chests! The difference being when she had a heart attack there was much more damage to the muscle of her heart than mine, and she's on blood thinners and I'm not. Seems they just can't keep her regulated with the right meds, and to top it off, she's been on dialysis now for a few years. She most recently had a set-back with an extremely contagious infection, and is trying to re-build her strength. As of this writing she is in a wheelchair and seems so fragile to me.

She is however strong spirited (as seem to be all the women in my family!) and I have stories and scars from childhood to prove that. I also have stories to show her soft and charitable side.

My mom said in my baby book that I resembled my sister Lena - I take that as a compliment. I do wish it had been those dark eyes, actual eyebrows, and perky boobs that knew where they were supposed to be that looked like her, but NO... (so what was it? - I'm still puzzled!)

I recall following her around alot when I wasn't pestering my brother Jimmy. She would dress me up, or play dolls with me. She was great at cutting out paper dolls. My mom dressed us as George Washington (Lena) and Martha (yours truly) and Lena pulled me in a wagon in a parade. I seem to remember another parade where Lena had on a crepe paper hula skirt that bled and drizzled down her legs in the rain!

When she was a teen she was kind enough to take me to the movies with her, or ask me to stay up late to watch a movie on TV after everyone else went to bed (I'm the one who stayed awake while she sat there sleeping), teach me things she learned about cooking and sewing (she was a whiz on mom's old treddle), and share her chocolate stash with me (you see she passed that CHOCOLATE in the candy counter at Newberry's on her way home from school each day). Sunday afternoons were a special treat when my mom would let us make old fashioned cooked fudge - by us I mean Lena was the expert. Sometimes she would let me lick the spoon or the pan.

She was tough - that scar on her hairline is where one of her hair curlers (if you can remember the old metal ones with a little rubber wheel that held it in place) was rolled too tight. She knew if she asked mom to loosen it, mom would just yank on it (which hurt) and not re-roll it, so she didn't say a word. Well it was so tight it pulled the hair, skin and all, off a small place on her forehead!

We seemed to do battle in the kitchen - butcher knives pulled over who would wash or dry the dishes (hint * it wasn't me holding the knife) - and in the bedroom that we shared - a line drawn in the middle of the bed that wasn't to be crossed (hint * I may have crossed it a little) and fingernail gouges (hence, my scars) as the penalty! There were always tears and apologies later.

As young married women, we lived across the street from each other and as I was childless at the time, we shared her kids. (I had just lost my baby, Toni, and she and I were planning on getting pregnant and having babies together. I didn't, and she had Debbie. Lena has always said Debbie is so much like me she should have been mine.) She would ask me to help her rearrange her furniture or do her hair or watch the kids. I just loved it. We spent many evenings together with our husbands playing yahtzee (that's whre my addiction to the game began) or rummy, or scrabble and eating popcorn and drinking A&W rootbeer from huge jugs. FUN TIMES!

I tried to help her during many of her health issues and she helped me when I had my heart surgery. Well, OK, that was like the blind leading the blind. She stayed with me, but neither of us was strong enough to do anything - we laughed so hard over it - like the only good we were to each other was that we both knew how to dial 911! The company was priceless, however, and I will be eternally grateful to her for that time and love and support.

She has a beautiful family and makes friends for life. She would do anything to make life better for others. She makes a mean QUILT. Her cake decorating and candy making skills are famous among any who know her. She is very private and somewhat shy. She is to be emulated and adored. She is one of God's angels on earth and I am so proud to be her SISTER!

LENA - I LOVE YOU!