A while ago, I was rummaging through a box of photographs from times past. I came upon this photo of my sister, Ilene. She is no longer a little girl, but rather a pretty grandmother. She lives in New Jersey. I don't get to New Jersey all that often, and in fact I have not been there since my sister moved to that area. She doesn't get to the Midwest often, so our visits are pretty much limited to electronic media these days.
It is possible that I have mentioned some of this on the blog, but it has been running for some time now, and my recollector isn't necessarily as proficient as it might be. Ilene was born when I was thirteen years old. As a proud brother, I had the fun of having a baby sister around. The thing is, though, that I left home before her fifth birthday. This meant that my relationship with her was limited in scope and growth to snippets of time, not all that frequent, when I visited the old homeplace, wherever that happened to be at the time. I married when Ilene was eight and established a home of my own. Thus it was that we didn't really get to know each other until we were both in our adult years.
Ilene, of course, went off to college, married, and established a home of her own. Physical distance between us remained an impediment to growth of brother-sister relationship. Well, we are neither one any longer young, but she is still my sister, a circumstance with which I am well-pleased!
Happy birthday to my little sister, Ilene!
As a little girl, Ilene playing with her dolls and imaginary playmates, could be heard singing, "Hollywood in my soul, and on and on and on!" Indeed. Ilene, retired now, had a career as a teacher of drama and a director of stage plays. Of course, she's still involved, working with her community theatre.
10 comments:
I remember that day well. I was ten at the time and, even though we lived in the same home, our lives were very different. When I was a teen she was beginning grade school. I left home when she was nine and we did not become friends until after she married.
The youngest of my three sisters was four when I left home. Fortunately, she is less than an hour's drive from here and we stay in contact.
Vee, shared experiences. And some that weren't.
Chuck, family relationships are interesting. Some, such as yours and mine, transcend age differences.
Wonderful memories! Happy birthday to her!
Shelly, thank you. Wonderful memories and still building more!
She was good looking even then. Yes, we are often strangers to our own relatives, just because of a few years difference. They don't seem to matter after we grow up. You and I wouldn't have been in school together even in a K-12 school, (even if we had been in the same town), but now we are friends.
Shark, it seems your arithmetic is correct. I guess I've just fallen into a habit of imagining myself to be years younger than I really am!
Thanks, I too am pleased.
Hmmm...I think I still have Hollywood in my soul, and I prefer Turner Classic Movies.
Ilene, goody.
Of the (very) few movies I see these days, I am guessing the great majority of them were made before 1980-- but then, I am old.
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