Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in a house with her mom and dad, two older brothers and a little sister.
Holy moly, that little sister just turned 65.
How can that be?
She and I played Barbie together (I was always Ken); we pretended we were cowgirls on the range (galloping around the house on our stick horses with a cap gun and holster slung around our tiny hips); we acted out musicals together (110 In The Shade was our favorite); we caught lightening bugs at night during the summertime (we poked holes in the tops of the mason jars so our flashing treasures could breathe) and we worked hard to keep up with our brothers when they played baseball, football and basketball (which was pretty much all the time).
Bobbie would sometimes sneak across the hall into my bedroom so we could sleep in the same bed. We would scratch each other’s backs and then fall asleep snuggled up close together.
When we went swimming in the summertime, we had tea parties under water. On Saturday nights, during any season, our babysitter let us stay up to watch the Lawrence Welk Show, and we’d pretend we were Barbara and Bobby (I was always Bobby). We dipped and twirled and glided - not so gracefully – across the family room floor until it was time to go to bed. One year for Halloween we were John and Jackie Kennedy (you can probably guess who I was).
Since I had a camera and needed a good subject, Bobbie became my first muse. I have pictures going back to when I was around 7 and she was 3.
She and I are as close now as we’ve ever been. I can’t imagine my life without her.
So I guess you could say we’ve lived happily ever after.
