 Sondra is the oldest and she was born with Sonya. They were not
identical. Sondra had blonde hair and not much of it. Sonya was very
small with dark hair. She wasn't well at all and only lived for four
days. The family was pretty sad over that, but we had Sondra and she
grew up healthy.She is married to a fine man named Roger. They
had no children and live in Sun City, Ariz. They love to play golf
and are in a good place for that. They are retired now and purchased
another home up north. They both had important jobs at the telephone
office. Sondra works part time selling houses as a real-estate
agent. They like to travel to see Roger's children, me in Illinois,
and Sharon and cousins in Nebraska. They love their life together.
The oldest sister next to me is Donna Lee. I was 4 years old when
she was born. I woke up one morning and there she was. I knew mom
was going to have a baby but didn't know when. Mom and dad laughed
when they saw my surprise. I can't recall a lot of what she did,
other than she was a quiet baby.
When she got older, she liked to look at books. Mom got these
small books for her to leaf through, and I do recall how much she
loved to read when she got older. She also liked paper dolls and
horses. Dad bought her a horse when she was old enough. Whenever you
were looking for Donna, you could find her curled up in her favorite
chair reading a book.
We took turns washing and drying the dishes together, until I was
old enough to help dad in the fields. By then my next sister,
Sharon, was old enough to help Donna in the kitchen.
Donna took some piano lessons.
She had a boyfriend named Paul. After they both got out of high
school, they got married and moved to Hastings, Neb. They worked at
a bread and pastry factory. They made cakes and Donna decorated
them. Then war broke out and Paul went to the service.
After the war, they started a family and had three boys, Paul
Jr., Donald and Steve. A few years later, they moved to California.
Sharon Mae was my third sister. She was born four years after
Donna Lee. Both of their birthdays are in July. At the time Sharon
was born, Donna and I were at a friend's house and were anxious to
get home and see her.
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My sister Donna and I played house a lot, and of course Sharon
was our baby girl. That made good baby-sitting for me. We would
bring my doll table and chairs, doll buggy, and bed outside when it
was nice. One day, my baby sister was in the buggy and I was trying
to get her up the porch steps. As I was trying to pull the buggy up,
the hood of the buggy came up and Sharon slipped out on her head. I
didn't like that too well and neither did she. Luckily, I had her
wrapped in a blanket, and there were no cuts or bruises. Everything
turned out fine.
When Sharon was small, she had whooping cough. Mother slept on
the sofa and Sharon slept in the baby buggy. When she began to
cough, Mother would hold her up by her legs until the phlegm
loosened up and out of her mouth, so she could lie down and breathe
again. That was pretty scary and lasted for several days.
Sharon married a man out of high school and they live in
Nebraska.
I love my sisters very much.
When I first came here it was for therapy. I had airline tickets
for Arizona and was going to spend Thanksgiving with one of my
sisters. The night before I was going home, I slipped in the
bathroom and broke my hip. After a lot more therapy, I was going
home again. The day before, I fell again, this time breaking my
other hip. Needless to say, I didn't get back to Arizona, or home.
But, I'm happy here. I have lots of friends and family that come
to see me. And I have a beautiful little great-granddaughter named
Tylee. God has blessed me.
[By BETTY ARMSTRONG,
Christian Village Writer's Group]
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