FAMILY TIME

I've never seen much of my sisters and their families.  My one-year-older sister lives in California, and typically, I see her twice a year.  She visits my mother in Michigan for one week each year, and I usually go to visit her in California once a year.  My 16-years- younger sister lives in Ohio, which borders Michigan, but she's always been very busy with her job, her family, and her avocations.  For example, right now she and a friend are starting a small internet business.  They make purses with reversible covers.  (You can see them on Facebook--at this address:  www.facebook.com/handbaggin.boutique

Here's my mom with her three daughters.  My sister Kendra from California is behind me and Tonya is holding up the other end of the sofa.

My sister Kendra hasn't flown in several years, and her husband, Gary, who loves to travel, hasn't been able to convince her to get on a airplane for about the last 18 years, I think.  I'm not sure how he coerced her to do it this time, but she got on a plane to fly to Michigan for this year's annual visit with my mother and seems to have survived the experience with no trauma.  I joined them for a few days last week, and my younger sister and her daughter Cassie spent a day with us.  

My lovely niece with my two sisters.






Cassie recently completed her Master's Degree in Physical Training and started her first job just last Monday.  We're all very proud of her.

Kendra attended her 50th high school class reunion this year.  She always reminds me of what's to come in my life, since I follow her by only a year.  About 50 of her classmates came to the reunion dinner, and she had a great time.  

My little home town of Blissfield sits in the middle of excellent farm country in southeast Michigan.  I'm not sure why, but my sister wanted a picture of her husband standing by a cornfield.  I think the corn is actually as high as an elephant's eye!  (For my Italian friends, this is a corny reference to a song in the musical "Oklahoma".)




It's strange, but I'm spending as much time as I usually do with my sisters, since at the end of this month, both my younger sister and I will be flying to California to celebrate the marriage of my niece Shelley's oldest daughter.  The person I won't see as much as usual is my mother, but she has always believed that her daughters should live their lives as they please, and thankfully, she's still in reasonably good health and able to live independently.  And I'm always only a plane ride away.

I always cherish these few days with my sisters because they are so rare.  You don't choose your relatives, but I'm very lucky to have some pretty nice ones in my life!