Another Sister

All these goings-on about the SisterProject, and thinking about a suggested memoir assignment from there, and the ‘D is for Dearest Sister’ post…well, it’s got me swimming in the pool, as it were.

Dearest Sister and I are not the only siblings in the family. There are the ‘big kids’, older siblings with at least a decade’s separation, and Wisest Sister is the eldest of them. Deeply Missed Sister came two years after, and in many ways was to Wisest what Dearest is to me. In many ways, and in special ways, but not quite the same.

See. They had a younger brother. And they were raised with Daddy. Daddy died when Dearest and I were barely potty trained, and Only Brother was pretty much out of the house by the time we were in school. Makes a difference, I think. Actually I know. Their upbringing was different in many ways to do with family structure, the times when they were raised, and family finances.

Wisest Sister is that, wise in many ways, and very, very talented. She has learned/inherited/adopted many of our mother’s sewing talents and skills, and has for many years been the go-to person for such things. She taught me all I know about having a real fabric stash…and shared with me the line about ‘who has the most stash when they die, wins’.

Wisest, Only, Momma, Deeply Missed, Dearest, and Ironneedles

At least, I remember it that way. I have found that is what sisters are mostly for. To correct the remembering. Wisest has commented to me that when Deeply Missed Sister passed, she felt she had lost half her memories. Dearest corrects me often when I am wrong. Or so she says.

Back to the stash… Dearest Sister may be giving Wisest a run for her money now, with her vintage fabric collection. I do believe that my yarn stash beats both, though, and nobody in the family has fleece….so yeah….I win there! And that would bring me to the next point…do ya’ think we are competitive much? I would like to believe in only a friendly, loving, and sisterly way.

And that's Grandbebe Girl!

Wisest Sister also reads. She loves mysteries, and lately asked me if I had heard of the Maggie Sefton series, which takes place in a yarn shop. Why, yes, I have. The author has based the yarn shop on one of MY local yarn shops, the one where I have taken my spinning and sock and French knitting classes, and she is often there (during their semi-annual sales!) to sign her books. (When I related this conversation with the manager of the yarn shop, she told me to tell Wisest that one of the characters is based on me!) Now I would buy the set, and get them all autographed for Wisest, but she is also an avid user of the library. It’s how she has read all of the Yarn Harlot’s, and all of Ms. Sefton’s books. And I thought buying through the used book sale was thrifty!

Because of our father’s vocation, the ‘early’ family lived in several states, and Wisest went to something like 14 different schools before her senior year. When Daddy took a job that would settle the family down up north, she had to stay back and finish school in our hometown of Greensburg, or risk not graduating. This was not the first time the family was split for one reason or another. Sometimes, when Daddy’s job called for a move, we all just couldn’t go, like when Momma was 8 months pregnant with Dearest Sister. I am pretty sure these times were looked on as an adventure, and yet I feel there was another side to it, too.

She took us to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm!

I have always felt that when it came to ‘the big kids’ that the sun rose and set in us ‘little girls’. Well mostly. Only Brother loves to tell how he had it made until the arrival of me. (Poor fellow, dethroned at ten, by a little pink bundle!) The feeling was mutual. How us little girls idolized the big kids. And their friends. So grown up and glamorous!

Want to know how glamorous? Wisest and Deeply Missed were airline stewardesses for TWA! Before there was a politically correct term for it! When there were weight nazis to keep them down to size! Back in the day, when little girls from a little rural town in Kansas only had mothers, teachers, or nurses for role models, this was heady stuff. It was all I wanted to be when I grew up. Maybe still!

Wisest Sister is still looking out for me. Posting comments which encourage me, sending me ALL her Elizabeth Zimmerman (she knew about EZ! So smart!) books in a package stuffed with cotton yarn, or coupons to JoAnns with a brief note.

Thanks for everything you've taught us, all the places you've taken us, all the hugs and all the love, all the acceptance.