Happy Birthday To My Favorite Sister!

 Happy Birthday to My Favorite Sister!



Jodi and our cat in 1978

Okay, she happens to be MY ONLY Sister...
But she is still my favorite!

I have had the pleasure of having some of the most wonderful people in my life. Some have been life-long friends, some have been only briefly. Every single person who has been important to me has played an important part of my life. Each has had a special purpose, and a special connection. Each has fit into my life in different ways. Each has understood differing aspects of my unique personality. Seldom has any totally understood me. I treasure the bits each person does understand, and where we connect. There is only ONE who has been understanding, and even accepting of who I am completely.

 

Jodi watching Grandpa carve a turkey in 1980

 That one person is My Sister, Jodi. Today is Her Birthday. I can’t tease her too much about getting older, because she will always be younger than me, and when I tease her about her age, it seems I feel the effects of aging even more magnified. I won’t even say how old she is now. (I am 43, and she was born a year-and-a-half after I was…..depending on how you do the math she could be a couple of different ages today.)

It is kinda funny, though. She was (and is) NOT a Morning-person. I am Definitely a Morning-person. We often went places as kids that required us to be up, and traveling before the sun came up. Jodi would manage to always be ready to go, and barely awake… until well-after the sun had come up. Then she was unstoppable. Her and I often were buddies in so many of the activities we did. I ALWAYS Enjoyed the sunrises, and would tell her about how wonderful they were. We connected on many activities in life, but not the sunrise issue. What was always amazing was how we could go skiing, to flea-markets, road-trips, vacations, to the beach, to visit relatives, to amusement parks, and just about ANY activity you could imagine, and I would see such wonderful sunrises. Jodi never saw any. Then one day, as adults, she called me at 7:30 in the morning, and was excitedly telling me about the sunrise she had just seen. She was excited, and wanted to tell me she was up for the sunrise. She was thrilled to be able to finally tell me she saw one! I was thrilled, too, but I knew there had to be a catch! It only took me a second to figure out this phenomenon. For over thirty years, I had not succeeded in getting her to see a sunrise. I asked her if she was in Vegas. She said she WAS In Fact in Vegas. She saw the sunrise, because she had stayed up all night, and just happened to still be up when the sun rose that morning.



Caught us smiling...Again! 1991 in Glide, Oregon

Last week, Jodi was in Vegas again. I currently live in Vegas, and had not seen my sister since before I moved from Oregon in February. I probably had not seen her for many months before I moved. She came to Vegas, and decided to show up at my work to surprise me. It took her three attempts to actually find me, because my schedule is kinda whacky, and she was just winging-it, hoping to catch me by surprise. When she came and found I was not there, she had to make those who she talked-to promise not to tell me she was there. She was playing it the same way I often had when I stopped-in and surprised her. She finally caught up with me, and we got a chance to chat, and visit. Turns out she did not see the sunrise during this visit to Vegas, but She and I shared a good laugh about that one time she did see the sunrise.

Yup! Two Funny Faces... Do you see how people say We Look alike?

The funniest thing I always hear from people who meet my sister for the first time, is “She looks just like you!” (my apologies to you, Jodi). They reference the eyes, smile, and face. It makes me laugh, too. I remember one manager in Medford who had not yet met her. She came up to him and asked where to find me, and his reply to her was “Agh! It’s a Female-Jon!” (again, my apologies to you, Jodi.) There are some I am not happy to be compared to, but my sister is not one of those. I always find it to be a good thing.

When the topic of creativity comes up, she swears I took ALL the creative genes in our family. I think she has just forgotten (old age will do that to a person) all the fun we had doing creative things as kids. We once made play-doh from scratch, and subsequently learned to paint walls because of it. We often made play-doh, and had endless hours with all that we could do with it. We made it different colors, would shape it, and often let it dry in the different shapes. We would make some really thick, and see how tall we could form it. We would make some really runny, and see if we could still work with it as a liquid. There were times we managed to wear more of it than seemed possible, and of course the food-coloring would stain our skin funny colors, and often mom had the "pleasure" of teaching us how to scrub the residue out of our clothes before throwing them in the washer. It was not uncommon to make art, ornaments, or just blobs for others. This one particular day, we made HUGE amounts of it. We had a huge room downstairs with lots of counter-space for spreading-out our messes. For whatever reason, on this day, we decided to throw it against the walls, and see what shapes we could make stick to the walls. We did this with clay of every color, shape and size for endless hours. It was only after we had finished playing that the evidence, and damage of our adventure became obvious. It turns out that the oil in the home-made play-doh soaked into the paint on the walls, and permanently stained the walls. That was when we learned how to scrub, prime, and paint walls. Mom was always eager to teach us, along with making sure we learned from our mistakes.

Mom always encouraged us to play, learn, and even make messes, knowing we would always learn something new every time.



Spring, 1988 on Cannon Beach.
Yup! We went out to play in 100-mile an hour winds!

Jodi and I took swim-lesson, ski-lessons, cooking classes, and assorted craft classes together as tiny little kids. We learned together, and pushed each other’s limits, enjoying the thrills and challenges. We often could be found making wonderful art creations to sell at a card-table on the sidewalk. We were creative, and adventurous in our coming up with fun things in the kitchen. Sometime the messes we created were bigger than the total combined food we were attempting to make. But no matter what life threw at us, we always made the most fun out of it.



Spring, 1989
Jodi and I on Mt Bachelor Summit

Of Course, there were tons of differences, too. But, we always have had a wonderful connection, and shared many of life’s adventures together. I am sure I will share more wonderful stories of growing up with The Most Wonderful Sister ever!



Jodi, 1977

Happy Birthday, Jodi! May you see the sunrise… at least once more… and call to tell me!

For any of you who have not had the pleasure of sharing life with The Most Wonderful Sister, I might be willing to share mine! (of course she may have something else to say about this...)

~=:-)