April 30, 2014. Ridgeland, Mississippi. My Sister Carol.

My sister Carol would have had a birthday tomorrow on May 1st, but she died suddenly two years ago in June. She would have been 79 years old. She had always been a good sister to me. Her skills were not my skills. By the time she was 12, she was making all her own clothes, using my Mother's sewing machine. No one taught her how to do it. She just figured it out on her own. And she always did my hair. Until she left for college, I had never brushed my own hair. Unbelievable but true. All her life, she made things. Her pies were delicious. She could knit, sew, crochet, and embroider. I can do none of them, perhaps because as children she could do them all, and very well too. And of course, she did them all for me, all her life. I still miss her. As adults, we never lived in the same city but we talked on the phone. She did love to talk and we often had long conversations. At least, I would listen to Carol while she caught me up to date on her family activities. Now that she has died, no one tells me about all her extended family. She and her husband were also generous with their cottage. Both of my boys were invited to spend time without their parents at their cottage and when her husband Ken retired, he invited David to spend the summer at their cottage, and he had a grand time. Andrew was scheduled to be in Panama that summer. So my sister helped to raise my boys as well as her brood. I had only one sister and one brother. To my knowledge, our family has never had a disagreement. I have been remarkably fortunate with my family, both immediate and extended. But my family is shrinking which must mean that I am getting old. Tomorrow, I will celebrate my sister's birthday and drink a glass of wine with Christina and Ken in her honor. We will all wish that our family was bigger.