my baby sister

The southern version of "the lupners" during
the late 1960's at the Bolivar County Fairgrounds.

We were a goofy group of kids. We fought ferociously with each other but would defend the other with our last breath. My younger brother and sister arrived eleven months apart during 1962: my brother born a rigid Capricorn and my sister a generous, socially engaging Sag.

My parents did their best raising three very different children. My brother and I were taught to be very independent and my baby sister hung on to those apron strings like a life line. She grew up to be a beautiful woman who married twice and raised three children until her girls went to live with their father about ten years ago.

Mr. dd and I received a telephone call around midnight on Valentine's Day. We looked at each other with alarm. Now that we are grown and married it is rare that we receive drunken phone calls from friends who need to hear a friendly voice... I don't remember who answered the phone but it was my father on the line. He, my mom, my sister and her two daughters were on holiday in Florida. My sister left the hotel around 8:30pm to buy some tums from the store across highway 98. My mother heard brakes squeal and she knew. She ran outside to see my little sister lying in middle of the highway. The car that hit her never bothered to stop. The police are still searching for this felon and the three other drivers that hit her each stopped and tried to help. She died instantly and never knew what hit her.

I will miss her always but then I have missed her my entire adult life, really. Our paths were far apart but I made a point of seeing her whenever I traveled south. She had a great passion for life, friends and family. I'll miss my father asking me "have you spoken to your sister?" I'll miss her smoker's laugh... her persistence of memory... her ability to recall details that I lost along the way a long time ago. She was 45. She was so strong. I thought she might outlive us all.