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Are you celebrating a birthday this year? August 9 is my sister Barbara’s birthday, and this is Barbara’s birthday wish from me. She’s one of my two sisters. Kay is the other, and her birthday is in November, so stay tuned. Same with Kay’s twin brother, Arthur.
Here’s a photo of the four of us at our own little family reunion last November. L-R, that’s Arthur, Kay, Barbara, and me. Thanks for the nice photo, Charlotte.
Of the four kids in my family, Barbara is the only one born in Nevada. The rest of us made our first appearances in California. Not only that, but little Barbara had long, dark hair, and the rest of us were curly blondes. Barbara used to joke (way too seriously, I now think) that she was mixed up at the hospital, and my mother brought home the wrong baby.
Not so, I’m sure. Of the four of us, Barbara reminds me most of my father — especially her eyes and her smile.
As long as I’ve known her, Barbara has been a compulsive “neatnik”. Her handwriting, the way she dresses, and how she organizes her life. When we were youngsters, she always had the neatest room. I had my desk, books, cornet, ukulele, radio, phono, fish tank, bird cage, and clothes all over the floor, as I recall. What a mess! I remember that Barbara’s desk, dresser, and bed were always perfectly set up and arranged, tidy as a pin.
Even now, when I occasionally visit her home, I can tease her by moving one of the items on her spotless coffee table when she’s out of the room. When she returns she’ll look around, sense that something’s wrong, walk to the table and return everything to perfect balance and symmetry. HOW does she do that?
Barbara is a lifelong New York Yankees fan, still watching them play every day they’re televised. Early on she developed a crush on Mickey Mantle, but this dwarfs in comparison to her devoted enthusiasm for Elvis and everything about him. She’s accumulated a huge collection of Elvis memorabilia, and she loves telling you about each piece.
Barbara is a wonderful sister, wife, mother, grandmother, former elementary school teacher, sports fan (especially tennis and baseball), amateur quilter, and so much more. I’ve admired her all my life.
Happy Birthday, Barbara
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Bottom line: Let’s be sure to send birthday wishes to people we love. Good idea?
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Hi Robbie,
Thank you for the wonderful blog. It brought a smile to my face and a teat to my eyes. The only thing you are misremembering is that it was our mother who kept telling me that the hospital mixed up the babies and that I was really a papoose! This tarnished my self-esteem and feeling of belonging as a kid, but now I can just laugh at it.
Whoops! That would be tear!
Whoops, indeed!
What a beautiful tribute to Barbara! And a Happy Birthday to you Barbara!!!!
It’s lovely how memories just stay with us to enrich our lives; it’s even better when you can share with your siblings and express the love.
Robbie, definitely Good Idea!!!!! We should never pass up an opportunity to send wishes to a loved one – a birthday is a very special day, because it’s their day 🙂
My sister’s birthday is on the 11th, this Thursday, and I have found 3 perfect cards that I must decide from (so that I can then also add my own message!) I also have always admired my sister – and she was also the neat one of the two of us! LOL!
I really enjoyed your blog Robbie and hope Barbara’s birthday was a delightful one! 🙂 ?
Thanks, Lisa. I passed along your birthday wished to Barbara, and I hope you celebrated your sister’s birthday in fine style. So, which card did you finally select?
I think you captured the essence of our sister Barbara.
Thanks, Kay. You and Arthur are next…