Memories

We live, we love and we say goodbye to family and friends. Sometimes we move, sometimes we loose loved ones to illness and tragedy. No matter time or distance we are fortunate enough to be left with memories. It makes my heart smile to talk to people who know my sister, and especially those who knew her in our youth. Those are the memories that are so rich and so deep in my heart.
There was a Thanksgiving in Navato, CA when we tried to convince a neighbor that we were not eating pumpkin pie,oh no! It was a variety of not so tasty things all mixed together, such as mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pepper, and the list went on. He would ask what made this and that color in the pie, and we had a quick answer every time. We worked well as a trio!
We spent so many holidays and summers with my Aunt Willie, Uncle Roger, Mike, Michelle and Mark. Those are some of the most fun memories of my childhood, I think Melinda would agree.
There was another time that we were all leaving, my dad driving the Monte Carlo and we had to go through "Devils Punchbowl" to get in and out of my Aunts house and once we made it maybe an hour or so down the road Michelle "popped" up from under blankets in the backseat, we laughed so hard! My dad grumbled but you could tell he was not mad, I personally think he was proud that we got over on him. I can still see that smile in his eyes. Melinda, Michelle and myself, well we just knew we were clever!
There are not many memories of Christmas that do not involve the Russell family. We kids, all six of us, would wake up so early every year at Christmas. The last year before my dad passed away the "adults" thought they were so wise and took all of the alarm clocks. They figured they would outsmart us so we would not wake up at 0500, or some ungodly hour. Ha! They were not clever enough for Mike and his partners in crime. Mike had a very stylish Casio wristwatch/calculator/alarm clock that would work to our advantage! Haha we got them! I believe the words that were shouted out that morning was something like... "dadgumit!" That's a word us kids were all familiar with.

There are so many fun and wonderful memories of my sister and our childhood. I hope I never get amnesia!