December 28th to be exact. That is the day that my sister, Lisa, was born. Of course, because I am younger than she is, this story will be hearsay until we reach 1974 or the 80's which is when most of my memories start!
Lisa is the first child born to our parents, Betty and Jimmy. She came 4 years after they were married and was apparently such a handful that they didn't dare have another for 5 more years! Just kidding. Lisa was a quiet and docile child, full of sweetness and content to play on her own for hours. She had a vivid imagination and even had several imaginary friends in her early years. Her most famous friend was Limen. Limen once ran out into the street and our dad's friend had to go out and save him before he was hit by a car. 
Here she is at age two, sweet yes? This is probably one of the last pictures we have of her smiling as a child because she developed a sincere distaste for having her picture taken. The rest of her childhood pictures - and young adult pictures - have this expression: This is the famous "Lisa pout". She has it in almost every picture ever taken of her. It's adorable and very French, I think.
My brother was born in 1969, but that is a story for another blog. Then I came along in 1974. My sister treated me like her baby doll. She cared for me and as I got older she doted on me like crazy. She dressed me up, told me I was beautiful and took zillions of pictures of me. If I am at all a diva, it is so her fault! She also taught me how to holler at cute guys aka foxes out the window of her Satellite for her as we cruised through the park. She would spend countless hours playing Barbies for me - yes, for me, not with me. I preferred watching her play out the scenes rather than participating. It was like watching tv, I guess. Besides her story lines were so much more exciting - teenage pregnancies, paraplegics (we lost John Travolta's legs) and they were all having affairs. We still get together sometimes and play with our Barbies even as adults.
As I got older, Lisa and I hung out more and more. She moved in with my dad at 17 and devoted the next several years to taking care of him. She put her life on hold to be there with him all the time making sure to bring excitement to his life whenever possible via Red Wing games and great cooking, travel stories and cool videos. She and I would stay up late at night giggling and talking and end up making a 3am run to Taco Bell while singing along to the radio at the top of our lungs.
After our dad passed, Lisa met a wonderful man, Ron. They fell in love - awww - and got married (by themselves, robbing me of my right to throw a party and wear a hot dress!). They had a beautiful baby girl, Charlotte who is now 4 years old. Lisa has made a beautiful life for herself.
When I was little, I always thought Lisa was so amazing...and I still do. She was and is one of my very bestest friends, even more so because she is my sister. Happy Birthday Big Sister! I love you!
