July 29, 2009

The Sister

After this post for Uncle Furry, my sister emailed me asking why she didn't get a post all to herself for her birthday back in May. I thought about it for a while then wrote back: "I don't know." I know I didn't miss her birthday. I probably emailed her and I'm sure I texted her with birthday wishes. I even sent her a (late, of course) birthday gift. I'm not sure why she didn't get a birthday post but to make up for it I'm going to write about her now. When I told her I would write something just about her, she emailed back, "I know you will dig up old nasty pictures and put those up." Of course I'm going to do my best but I don't know how many old nasty pictures I have of her.

This is my sister.
Her name is Vee. Actually it isn't really Vee, but that's what we've always called her. Her real name begins with the letter "V" and it's kind of long, like Veronica or Vanessa. (Only it isn't Veronica or Vanessa so you can cross those names off of your list if you're trying to guess what her real name is.) Because her name is so long we immediately shortened it to just Vee which has simplified all of our lives a great deal.

Vee was born a few years ago in Ohio. She was my little sister then and since she hasn't reached the ripe old age of 24 yet she's still my little sister. People often told us how much we looked alike which we always thought was ridiculous. See?
She has this fabulous blond curly hair -- mine is dark and just a little bit wavy. She is taller than I am. While we both have blue eyes, the blue is different and so is our eye shape. Our faces are also shaped differently and her nose is much smaller than mine. Even our smiles are not the same. So while we may resemble each other a little bit, we do not look alike. The ultimate proof is in our feet. I'm sad that I don't have a picture of Vee's feet to show you. They are long and bony and very narrow. Her toes are so long that she could play the piano with them, I think.

While Vee might possibly be able to play the piano with her toes, she can definitely play it with her hands. She is a gifted pianist. She was able to study with a very good teacher for several years. She has played in many recitals and 3 years ago performed Gershwin's "Concerto in F" with a symphony orchestra. That was the summer after I got married and moved away -- I wanted so badly to be there. I had big plans of flying to Washington and surprising her but just didn't have the money for a plane ticket. Before I got married I took voice lessons for a couple of years and Vee was my accompanist. We spent many, many, many hours at the piano, me singing and Vee playing and often singing with me. We did many specials at church as well -- sometimes Mom sang with us. I miss those times. Here in Jersey my SILs can play the piano and sing specials with me in church and while that is a very good thing, it is not quite the same.
~I need to pause here and inform you that I am the only female in my immediate family as well as My Man's immediate family who does not play the piano.~
Spending hours and hours practising with someone gives you a "feel" for singing with them. Often we would go through a song and one of us would say, "I think we need to work on that one place," and the other would know exactly what place without being told what it was.

Music is not the only area where we have mind-meld. My family watched a lot (and I mean A LOT) of old movies when we all lived at home. Vee and I made up a game to play together: I would name an actor, then Vee would name an old movie that the actor was in as well as another actor from the same movie. Then I would name another movie that the second actor was in as well someone else who was in the second movie. We would go back and forth until we couldn't think of another person, and we had several variations to that game (it was great for road trips.) We still quote movie lines to each other all the time and make each other guess which movie they are from. But I can't tell how many times I would say, "You know that movie?" and before I could go on to describe which one I meant Vee would name it. It would happen the other way around, too, with me guessing which one she meant. It was eery, people. Like connected brains.

Vee is a funny person. She makes me laugh a lot. She can be silly and goofy. I wonder where she gets that from?
She is, hands down, my absolute favorite sister.

1 comment:

Primetime Babyboomers said...

Do ya think she is your absolutely, most favorite sister? I'd hope so. Great write up on Vee and I loved the family pics.