Winter

Winter

Thursday, August 4, 2011

My Sister's Birthday


A year ago I wrote a post about my little sister.
I am thankful that I was given the gift of having sister.
If I have any regrets in my life it is that I wasn't as good
as a older sister as I could have been. My sister was
was sweet, and I was wild. She liked to play with dolls,
I climbed trees. After our Mom died and she was just
six, I should have done more to protect her, but I didn't
So those are the things I remember.
I hope you have a lovely day today.



The above picture is a picture of my Mom, my brother
and my sister who is 49 years old today. We were getting ready
for church. My Dad had just got a Polaroid Camera and took
our picture. I am the one in the back.
I have so few pictures of my Mom and us that I have hung onto
this one for years.
I think as I look at this picture, from 1969 that by September,
my Mom would be living in heaven. But this post is not about
that.

Today my sister is 49 years old. When my Dad told me that I could
pick out a name for the baby if it was a girl, I had a book series called
The Best In Children's Books and on the page with precious stones,
there was a picture of a ruby. I loved rubies because they were red
and at the time I just loved red. I thought it was the most beautiful
name I could think of so I said, " Dad lets name her Ruby!" He very
carefully told me he thought this other name would be better.

Now I was already feeling a bit disgruntled because when they brought
my brother home, I was expecting someone to play with, instead they
brought home this baby who so messed up my life. He cried all of the time,
he never slept, when he got big enough to stand he jumped in his crib
until he finally broke it. He ate the dirt in my Mom's plants, he ate
cigarette butts. He was just no fun at all.


So I was better prepared this time, at least by now I was four.
So on a morning just like today, I was at my Grandma's house
waiting watching for the car. The bassinet was all set up in the
living room and I was so glad to see my Mom and the baby
that I jumped up and down all the way as they walked
in the house.

My Mom then very carefully, laid the most beautiful baby
in whole world in the bed. She had these little curly black
ringlets all over her head. She had the prettiest peaches
and cream skin and her lovely black eyelashes were so long
they were bushing her face. I put my hand in and when she took
my finger and held on I was enraptured.

She was always the kind of perfect baby that people would walk
by and exclaim how pretty she was and all of my Mom's friends
always wanted to take her home with them. She talked so cute,
and had such a vocabulary that she was a riot to talk to and everyone
just wanted to listen to her.

She learned to read by the time she was two and one of the odd
memories was that she would sit and play solitaire when she
was so little. She always loved her dolls and was such a good
little Mommy.

She moved back to Oklahoma to take care of our step-mother
and this will be her second birthday without our Mom. I hope that
she reads this and knows that on this day 49 years ago,
I received such a wonderful gift.
Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men!

(Psalm. 107:6)

17 comments:

Sassafras and Winterberry said...

Such a lovely and moving birthday wish. Happy Birthday to your sister! I feel for you both, having lost my dad in 1967 when I was six. Losing a parent is so hard. I find great comfort in my brother and I know he does in me. I'm glad you have your sister to celebrate with!
Hugs,
Courtney

Debbie said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your sister! I don't think there are many better blessings then that of a sister. I have 3 including one who is only a mere 18 months older. To this day no one (outside of my own immediate fam of course) knows me better...oh the life we have traveled together. We have never seen eye to eye on everything and no one can have the squabbles a sister can, haha, but I can count on each and everyone to have my back no matter what. A forever friend. Hope she has a wonderful day!

TexWisGirl said...

oh, this is so sweet. happy birthday to your sweet and wonderful little sis...

Meg said...

Happy Birthday T!

Kessie said...

Such a lovely birthday post. It was a nice way to wake up this morning, reading nice family stories. :-)

Paula said...

Lovely post! Happy birthday to your sister.

Diana Ferguson said...

So sweet!!! Aren't sisters the best?!!

Homeschool on the Croft said...

What a lovely birthday post.... I bet that's as good a present as she could get :)

no spring chicken said...

You may have regrets from childhood, but it's obvious that you've always loved your sister... and I'm guessing that she never doubted it!

This was a sweet tribute kim, and I too hope your sister gets the pleasure of reading it today.

Blessings, Debbie

Pom Pom said...

I think Ruby is a lovely name! I can understand why you hang onto that photo, Kim. Happy Birthday to your sister!

Debbie said...

this is just so beautiful kim, what a wonderful story to write. your sister will love it!!!!
happy birthday to your sister!!!

Patrice said...

Happy, happy to your sister! I see such a remarkable resemblance in facial features in the picture of your mom. (Somewhere in the eyes, nose, cheek areas, but the picture is small, so it's hard to tell. It made me think of your Facebook picture.)
Sisters are awesome. So are friends like you!

Kim said...

Awwww that is just the sweetest post. I hope she is having a great day.

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

Happy Happy Birthday to Kim's 'Ruby' sister! :)

xo

Dog Trot Farm said...

Happy Birthday to your little sister Kim, I would say she is quite lucky to have you for a big sister!( Is her name Ruby?) If so happy birthday Ruby, I hope you are blessed with many more birthdays to come. Hugs, Julie.

Maryann said...

I'm sure your sister will enjoy reading this today

Anonymous said...

Kim and all of your followers. I had to figure out how to post a comment so I didn't get to comment yesterday except on facebook. I am Kim's sister. I am not named Ruby (thankful) but am named Tracy. I am 4 years younger than Kim. Kim and I shared a bed until I was 12 or 13 and shared our bedroom until I was 17. I idolized Kim. She was always faster, smarter, more beautiful and had all the cool stuff. I have very strong memories of trying to keep up! I know I was a nuisance and a tag-along but my dear sister Kim forged ahead of me in every area tenaciously and bravely. We had lots of tragedies sadly in our lives but we experienced them together. She did protect me. I can't imagine the additional harm that would have befallen me if she had not done her best to protect me. I love my Kim so deeply and I know her soul. Thank you Kim for beating me up less than you could have and for tolerating the tag-along. I love you.