A Tribute to My Little Sister on Her Birthday!

I was in first grade when Yvonne was born and I remember being quite pleased having a baby sister. I bragged to my first grade teacher.

Yvonne was always really little. I was the BIG one in the bunch. I think I still am. She had blonde hair and big brown eyes and the tiniest feet of anyone I've ever known. They were so small, I never figured out how she could stay standing up. Her feet were a size 5 or 6 and I wore a SIZE 8!

I have included some pictures of her when she was young. I'm sure she's never seen these. I apologize for the quality. My camera wasn't the best, nor was I a very good photographer.

Thanksgiving with Dad, Mom, Diane and Yvonne - I'm not sure of the year.



Yvonne holding Tiny (our Chihuahua) and her rag doll. Wait a minute! I thought we weren't allowed to have the dog upstairs and, besides, what's he doing on MY BED?




Yvonne swinging on our swing at our new house.



Diane, Me and Yvonne (Can you believe there's nothing on the counter?)

When we were young, I made a cake in the electric mixer. I decided to be creative and make the cake batter pink. Yvonne stood up on a chair to watch. This particular time she looked into the mixer and her long blonde hair went in the bowl and sucked up in the beaters. Her hair wound around the beaters so tight, Mom had to really work to get them out of her hair. I can't remember whether Mom had to cut her hair to get the beaters and the cake batter out of her hair, but the beaters were bent so badly they had to be thrown away. Pink cake batter flew everywhere. For years, we found pink cake batter in crazy places all over the kitchen.

She was the one who made sure we had Family Home Evening in our family. She took it on herself to plan the lessons even though she couldn't have been more than 10 or 12 years old. I remember one lesson in particular where she made a paper trash can and we "threw" bad words away. I remember it so much, that I used that same lesson on my own kids.

She's REALLY talented. She could paint and draw and play the piano and organ. She always pounded out her frustrations on the piano. If she was upset or worried, the piano was loud. If she was having a good day, the music was soft and quiet. I was always jealous that she could play one part on the piano and sing the harmony part at the same time. I can't multi-task like she does.

I remember when she got married the first time and I cried buckets because I couldn't be there. Then, when she married the second time, I was SHOCKED, ASTONISHED and SPEECHLESS when she called and announced she was marrying a guy with four kids of his own and they'd only known each other a COUPLE of weeks! I remember asking her, "Are you SURE? Are you FOR SURE, FOR SURE?" I'm glad it worked out, really I am. We like Craig.

We have a lot in common: She's my only texting buddy and she got me hooked on Desperate Housewives. Man, I like that show! She rolls up her hamburger papers and stuff the same way as I do when we go to a fast food place. We like the leaded drinks - she drinks pure Coke and I like Diet Pepsi. We love Good and Plenty candy. The only difference is when our dad buys us a Costco-size bag, I eat the whole thing til it's gone. She, on the other hand, portions it out in little baggies and has the self-control to eat one baggie portion per day. Personally, with our genes, I think she secretly eats more than one baggie worth a day. Maybe the baggies are really the gallon size!

She lives in Texas where there are the BIGGEST and MOST bugs I have ever seen in my life! Mutants for sure! There must have been some foreshadowing when I wrote her a letter in June of 1969 from summer camp. I quote my own words, "Boy, Yvonne, if you were here you would be scared! There are thousands of bugs, black ones, brown ones, hairy ones, skinny ones, flying ones and fat ones." These days she's not scared at all - it's ME that's scared of the bugs!

And, I thought she might enjoy a letter I found that she wrote back to me. I love how she says she has "nothing to say so goodby!" I bet that's not so true anymore!


I wonder if she still likes the combination of popsicles, cheese and gum?

She's made sacrifices, an awful lot of them; in fact, probably more than her fair share in life. She moved dozens of times, survived floods, raised 8 kids, plus some dogs, cats, flying squirrels, snakes, ducks, goats, birds and every other kind of animal imaginable.

I really wish we lived closer, but thanks to modern technology, it's been fun to keep in touch with her through our blogs. Our trip to Lagoon last summer will always be a memorable one in my heart. Together we screamed and laughed our guts out all day and dared each other to go on rides and got soaked to the gills. It took me three days to recuperate from that fun day!

We sang songs a lot when we were at home and she could sing the harmony on any song. In honor of her, I made this little video to see if she remembers singing this song with me. We sang it ALL the time. I rounded up a "fill-in" to stand in for Yvonne, but somehow it's not quite the same. And, if you can't hear my "fill-in" sing, it's because NOBODY can replace my sister who lives in Texas!



Happy Birthday Yvonne!