FEBRUARY 29

I think it would be fun to have my birthday on February 29. I meant to mail myself some envelopes today so I would have the postmark. I guess it can wait 4 more years.

R IS FOR ROBERT

I called my mother to ask her if she remembered the year that Bob came to Fordsville. She gave it some thought, tried to place it with other events in our life, but came to the conclusion that she wasn't sure of the year. So as far as I am concerned, he was just always here, no coming or leaving.
I have learned many things from Bob. He introduced me to Broadway music, gave me all of his albums (I still have them all), enabled me to love this music everyday of my life.
While I was in the 7th grade, Bob and my mother would pick me up from school and we would take off on a drive. I never knew where we might be going. Sometimes he would make us close our eyes while he drove fast, made turns, drove in reverse and gave us hints that had nothing to do with where we were going. Occasionally, he would make us wear blindfolds. The destination was always worth the trip, overlooks, riverbanks, hills, valleys, railroad beds, places to eat, visits with strange people. We were often lost, finding wonderful places on those unknown roads, looking for them later but not finding them.
Many nights our house would be full of Bob and his friends, playing guitars, singing, eating, Mama always fed well. My father would say we were all crazy and go to my grandmother's house and go to bed. One night my mother was playing the piano and Bob was reading a poem. As she changed the tempo Bob fell right in with his reciting. There are no words to tell how funny that was and it can never be recaptured. Maybe it was the same night of recitation that Bob said in a loud, clear, professional voice, "A is for navel."
Bob spent many nights at our house and bedtime was interesting. As we would all get settled, Bob or Mama would start to moo, the other would bark. Following a few moments of quiet, one of them would meow, the other respond with a neigh. After a few rounds of this my father would say we were all crazy and go to my grandmother's house and go to bed.
During this time Bob was attending seminary in Lexington. Every weekend he came to Fordsville as soon as his last class was over. He would come in the house telling us that he was going back to Lexington on Sunday as soon as he had eaten dinner. But then he needed a nap after eating and the hour would grow late. So he would decide to stay until Monday morning, but was going to leave early, telling Mama to wake him at the crack of dawn. We would barely get up in time for me to get to school. Then in the afternoon when I got out of school, there would be Bob and Mama to pick me up. He would say, "Now Little Sister, I'm leaving for Lexington as soon as I take you and your mother home." But Mama would tell him to come in and drink some limeade and have a tuna fish sandwich. Of course, at bedtime, more mooing, meowing, barking, neighing. Early on Tuesday morning I would hear him bustling around, bounding off the porch, slamming the car door, flooring the accelerator, gravel pelting the windows of the house. We knew he would roll into Lexington just barely in time for his first class. We waited for him to return on Friday.
In all the years since we have never lost touch, never farther away than an e-mail or a phone call.
I know that I have a big brother who is supportive and honest, listens, confides, guards my confidences, laughs, understands, grieves, applauds, shares, no matter my circumstance. For this, I am quite thankful.
So, Robert, as you read this, I'm glad to be your little sister.

FROM THIS...

...TO THIS

EYELIDS

My favorite thing about going to church is the ride home. I lay my seat back and Mama gives me a treatment. She rubs and scratches my head, paying special attention to one spot along my crown on the right side. Then she moves to my ears, revisiting my head all the while. My neck is next, straight down from my ears all the way around to the back of my neck and up the back of my head. Just recently, she has started rubbing my eyelids. I take off my glasses and I can feel her cool fingertips wisp across my skin. All my anguish falls away, my whole body relaxes, my only life is in my eyelids.

SADIE

ALL KINDS OF THINGS

All kinds of things have been happening. So many, in fact, that I can't keep up with them myself. First off, Susan got the flu and missed a week of school. Leah had a runny nose and couldn't go to day care so I went to Georgetown. Then Susan's flu goes into pneumonia. She misses more school. I came home on Friday, bringing Leah with me. We picked up Olivia in Owensboro and they both spent the night here. They had fun playing together. We had fun watching them.
Mama fell and cut her head. She bled all over the place but it wasn't a deep cut. Luckily, I had forgotten to put her blood thinner in her medicine box or the bleeding could have been a problem. She seems to be fine.
Leah went home Monday afternoon, just ahead of the bad weather. Mama, Olivia and I took her to Bardstown to meet her daddy. By the time we started home the snow had started. The closer we got to home the worse the weather was and the slicker the roads. When I turned in Mama's driveway I almost missed it, pushing her paper box in the ditch. We were glad to be home. Olivia said it wasn't any fun at all.
It's been cold, snowy and slick since Monday night. I filled the bird feeders. I don't like the blackbirds but I guess they are hungry too.
There are no children here tonight. I miss them.