A Hometown Sojourn

Sisters

A trip out of town

Niece, her husband 

   and grand niece

Visiting, jigsaw puzzles 

    and stories

A loop around home town 

     before return to city

Supper out with brother 

     (more stories and memory work)

Scrabble (I won)

Sisters

“When you finally go back to your old home, you find 

it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood.”

~ Sam Ewing, baseball player

Too Big and Just Enough

Too Big and Just Enough

“You can have a cookie, mom ~ just not Rusty right now.” Annabelle couldn’t believe she said that! Rusty really was her best friend. It had been really hard to act like they didn’t like each other. They both loved Christmas and that was the only thing that made it almost easy. She had told Abby all about the card that they were making for their parents and how they had to play like they were mad at each other. Talking to her favourite teddy bear, Annabelle sighed. “I miss my brother.” 

Rusty wasn’t far away. Just outside her bedroom door he heard her talking to herself about that morning. He had known that she was just playacting. Then when he got the box of cookies, he knew they were still best friends. “I miss you too, but maybe we should stop pretending anymore. Mom and dad are worried about us. We can finish the card up here in my room. I’ve cleaned my desk off.” He hesitated. “Or we can finish it in your room. I don’t really mind all your stuffed animals. Except that really weird one that looks like it’s staring at me.”

~~~~~

Rusty had painted the Christmas tree he wanted, but he still wanted to get the girl and boy put on it. Annabelle had written “Mom and Dad you are the best parents in the world. We love you.” She couldn’t think of anything else to write. They decided that their big ideas were too big for them. At least that’s what they thought. And they didn’t want to act like they weren’t friends anymore. So, Annabelle put the offending stuffed animal in her closet, and the best friends got to work on their Christmas project. 

“Being a twin is like being born with a best friend.”

~ Tricia Marrapodi

1968 ~ 2008

Christmas Special

Everyone had been told the cookies were Christmas presents. Annabelle really hated it when her brother didn’t pay attention to her. He was a really good brother at school, but at home it was like he couldn’t stand her. Twins, they would be 10 years old on Christmas Day. When they were really little, they always had fun together. Annabelle didn’t remember it, but they had shared a crib when they were babies. Then they shared a room with separate beds, but the year before they had to start school, Rusty got his own room. Ever since then, he’d been bossy. A sign on his door said: Girls Keep Out (except mom). Annabelle couldn’t tell anyone, but she missed her good brother at home. At school, she wished he wasn’t so protective of her. She sighed. “I guess he just has to do more growing up.” 

“Hey, Annabelle. Are we still decorating the Christmas tree tonight? I came home early so we could get the decorations out.” 

“Rusty?! You’re home! I didn’t think you’d want to do the decorating.”Annabelle had been certain it would just be her mom and herself. She was so happy. The twins went down to the basement to get all the decorations. Their mom or their dad would help them get out all the Christmas things when they were little. When they were big enough, they were allowed to get the big box by themselves. Now, their parents did more supervising than doing any of the work ~ just what the twins wanted. They both loved Christmas carols, Christmas dinner, opening presents but decorating the tree was an extra special start to the season. 

“Christmas works like glue, it keeps us all sticking together.”

~ Rosie Thomas,  Iris & Ruby

It’s a Two-fer

An Evening at the Artesian

It was fun! Just a walk down the street to the Artesian, a venue hosting a Globe Theatre Production of Making Spirits Bright. It was so much fun!! Based on the old CBC radio dramas many of us attending listened to, five actors played multiple roles. The stage was set with microphones for each actor, head gear to show a change from a human to an animal, a shiny black crow, disappearing clothes lines and some that I’ve missed! Opening with a First Nations story about a wiley wolf and an inept hunter, we were introduced with laughter to the land we live on. The stories that were presented: Coyote’s New Suit by Thomas King; Frankincents an’ Meer by W.O. Mitchell; The Night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore; and the Mitten, A Ukrainian Folk Tale, tickled my funny bone and the actors were impressive. They switched from human to animal, adults to children as each story dictated. All accompanied by the appropriate sound effects and props! That’s not all: rather than reading out a boring litany of sponsors, they were honoured with singing accolades! At the end the cast had all of us singing Auld Lang Syne. Did I mention it was so much fun!!

“As a young actor, I would be invited to the CBC Radio 

drama department to do voices for different characters, 

and I found that I could do quite a few of them.”

 ~ Peter Cullen, Canadian Actor

Director:

Jennifer Brewin

Actors:

Skyler Anderson

Kris Alvarez

Sarah Bergbusch

Sierra Haynes

Leon Willey

~~~~~

Cookies for Breakfast

 “Cookies for breakfast, yay!?” As soon as Rusty opened his eyes he knew what was in store for him. His sister Annabelle had baked cookies the night before and he could still smell them. He didn’t usually leap out of bed, that changed as soon as he could almost taste the sweet, crumble of the sugar cookies. If he was quiet enough, he could get down to the kitchen and help himself before his sister was up. Stuffing his feet into his slippers, he shuffled to his bedroom door and opened it carefully. “Don’t squeak! Don’t squeak!” He let his breath go, he had managed to open the door. He practiced that move all the time. Then his shoulders fell. “Coffee…..Mom and Dad are already up. They’ll be in the kitchen. It’s impossible now!” He backed into his room. “I might as well get dressed and figure something else out.” Screwing up his face in thought he paced. "Aha! Cool. That's what I need and I'll wait til my dumb sister is in the kitchen."

“No cry because cookie is finished. Smile because cookie happened.”

~ Cookie Monster, The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster’s Guide to Life

A Letter to My Brother

Dear Doug,

How are you? That seems a silly question to someone who has been gone for so long. However, that’s how I learned to start a letter and I haven’t found a better opening line.

I’ve been thinking about you the last few days. This month I dedicate my writing to Epilepsy. There’s an Epilepsy Awareness day annually on March 26. I’ve been writing for several years now and each day in March, I write a blog entry. I don’t suppose you know about the electronic world of email and blogging, having left us in 1992 before the world of computers was fully engaged. I’ll just say that many things have changed in the communication world.

I have few memories of you, and the earliest remaining one is not the best. You may not even remember it. It was the day you had your first seizure one Christmas morning when you were sixteen and I was about ten. They call them ‘tonic/clonic’ seizures now. It’s more clinically accurate apparently. Few other memories have survived over the years. Mom spending time with you at the dining room table helping you with your French. Arguments with dad that were a bit loud. And stories from school about misadventures that you experienced, that today would be called being bullied.

So we didn’t know each other very well then. I was just one more sister. We knew each other more as adults when my kids, your nephews, were in their early adolescence. By that time, I also had had epilepsy for about ten years. 

We would visit either in my kitchen, or the back yard in the summer. In the winter it was in a coffee shop or in the cab of your old green truck. You were the first one that I could really talk to about epilepsy. I did get all nurse-y on you about how and when to take your pills, and was most shocked to learn that you didn’t even know the names of your pills. After thirty-five years, you still just didn’t seem to get it. I tried to tell you at the time even though I was still figuring it out for myself.

You came from a generation that didn’t talk much about health conditions. You just went to the doctor when there were problems. What I did learn from you, was what not to do. So thank you for the talks that we did have about life, whether epilepsy was involved or not. 

The rest of the family is all doing well. Your sisters and brothers have given you lots of talented nieces and nephews, and several grand nephews and nieces, the youngest grand nephew not even a month old.  

It was nice talking with you again. 

Love,

Susan

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing 

new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”    

~ John Maynard Keyes

Author's note: edited July 25, 2024