My Favorite Memories

Noelle and Holly were on the same wavelength I've been on the past few days in mentioning everyone in the family and why I love them. I'm going to go a different route, however, and tell about my favorite memories. It's hard to think of memories of my oldest siblings, because I was so young when they moved away, but I will do my best.

Mom
My favorite memory of Mom is when she let me play hookey for the day when I was in high school, and we went horseback riding together. All she asked was whether my grades were good. It was a great day!

Dad
My favorite memory of Dad is all of the times we drove from Aurora to Ithaca for my orthodontist appointments. I got to know him so much better during those times!

Faline
When I was at her house in Ithaca, babysitting her kids. She never paid me much for it, but I got to know her children and her so much better during that time.

Teddie
I have always thought of Teddie as my second mother, because she was my "buddy" when i was growing up, and I remember always going to her whenever I needed anything.

Lamona
I always heard from Mom what a great cook Lamona was, and I have always wanted to cook well just like her. I have succeeded in the baking area - I make great cakes, cookies, brownies, and all kinds of desserts. I'm still working on the cooking part, but being married to an Italian husband who also likes to cook makes for some competition in the kitchen. I give in easily, though, because Tony really is a good cook.

Gayla
I was so happy when Gayla and John decided to move to Elmira to be closer to us the year before she died. Gayla said that it was because she wanted to get to know her little sisters better. They would come and spend weekends with us, and Gayla would stay up really late with us reading dramatically from the romance novels. We shared a lot of laughs! I'm grateful that I got to be the last one to give her feet a good massage the night before she passed away.

LaDawn
I remember one night before Christmas when I was really young. I went into Mom's sewing room, and LaDawn, Mom, and Gayla, I think, were sewing Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for us. I still have my Raggedy Ann doll!

LaMonte
I remember sitting on the wall at the Trumansburg house watching the parades go by. I remember Monte dressed up like a Native American(to be politically correct), and riding Misty, I think? in the parade. There is a picture of it somewhere!

Kelly
Kelly could always make me laugh. He never took the time to give presents the way most people do, like wrapping them and waiting for the holiday to give them. He would buy them and bring them to my room, still in the shopping bag, and hand it to me, with a "here's your present".

Holly
Holly never liked bugs(maybe because there were certain family members who took delight in making sure she wouldn't like them!), especially not bees. I love telling people the story of how a bee climbed up in the back of my shirt one day, and Holly flipped out. She tried so hard to get the bee out of my shirt that the bee stung me. I think she felt really bad about it. Luckily I'm not allergic and Mom got the stinger out with no problems.

Brennan
Brennan and I are so close in age, that we share an awful lot of memories. It's hard to choose just one. We were in the show "Oklahoma" together in high school. He played the part of Curly, and I had a kind of major girl part. At one point during the rehearsals, we realized that he was supposed to kiss me during the show. He said "there is no way I'm kissing my sister!" I felt the same way. The director figured out a way around it, but it was pretty funny at the time.

Noelle
Noelle and I share a lot of memories, too. When we were little, we used to fight a lot. I remember Mom making us move into the same bedroom, then making us stay in that room until we got along. We pulled each other's hair, pushed each other down, and then decided we'd better get along so we could get out of there! I believe that we are better friends because of it.

Rachelle
Because I am so close to the end of the family, Rachelle is the only one I remember as a baby, since she was born when I was two weeks away from turning 5 years old. On her first New Year's Day, I remember all of us putting her in the carriage with a New Year's hat on and pushing her around the house, yelling "Happy New Year!"

I hope you have all enjoyed my trip down Memory Lane. I'd love to hear my older siblings' memories about our family. I learned a lot about the older siblings from Teddie's letter that she sent a few years ago.

As a personal note, I am going into the hospital on Thursday for an emergency procedure. I'd really appreciate your prayers on my behalf, and phone calls if you can.

I love all of you!