Time in a Bottle

I was sitting in my very large, old, creaky wooden rocking chair. It fits me well, but the more industrious the rock, the louder the creak.  Eli and I had just come in from our car ride, a ride just not quite long enough to put him thoroughly into the land of nod.  I had watched him briefly wiggle and squirm, much more like one of the worms than of the ducky he resembled in his soft yellow jammies with the golden webbed feet.  He stretched once more and I lifted him up in my arms, looked 'round and decided the dishes could wait yet again, while the two of us took a break.  So I settled in my old chair, old in style as well as wear and rocked as gently as I could to prevent or at least to muffle the racket the old chair made as it moved back and forth.

The little wiggly body softened as we moved, then relaxed.  A little pudgy hand released it's fist on the upper arm of my sweatshirt.  Eli's soft downy head held in my hand slowly sunk onto my shoulder until I was no longer supporting it with my hand, instead it was supporting me with it's warmth.  We rocked 'til the chair began to sing, so I slowed and the chair quieted. The little worm in Eli began to emerge, so I rocked a little faster and the chair sang louder. Baby ducky once again laid his head upon my shoulder... until I could no longer hear the little baby sounds, only the melody of the old rocking chair.

As I sat rocking, the creaky chair carrying me off with it's lullaby, my mind wandered off and I began to wonder at the absolute peace of a baby.  A deep rush of emotion came over me and a vow I have made to many babies before became a promise to Eli as well; To the best of my ability baby grandson of mine, I will always be here for you. I promise.

Sistos

 When it comes to the Terrazas girls, you mess with one bean, you get the whole burrito. ~ Ursula Terrazas

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of.  You know whatever you do, they'll still be there.  ~Amy Li


A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.  ~Marion C. Garretty


Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister.  ~Alice Walker


Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.  ~Charles M. Schulz


If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.  ~Linda Sunshine


You can kid the world.  But not your sister.  ~Charlotte Gray


I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness.  ~Emily Dickinson


Help one another, is part of the religion of sisterhood.  ~Louisa May Alcott


Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five.  ~Pam Brown


In thee my soul shall own combined the sister and the friend.  ~Catherine Killigrew


A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.  ~Toni Morrison


Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply...  ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814


What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it?  ~Jenny DeVries


Sisters is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship.  ~Margaret Mead


Bless you, my darling, and remember you are always in the heart - oh tucked so close there is no chance of escape - of your sister.  ~Katherine Mansfield


A sister smiles when one tells one's stories - for she knows where the decoration has been added.  ~Chris Montaigne


More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you've been bad and good.  ~Linda Sunshine

My sister taught me everything I really need to know, and she was only in sixth grade at the time.  ~Linda Sunshine


I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.  ~James Boswell


How do people make it through life without a sister?  ~Sara Corpening


If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she's wearing your best sweater.  ~Pam Brown


Sisters are different flowers from the same garden.  ~Author Unknown


There can be no situation in life in which the conversation of my dear sister will not administer some comfort to me.  ~Mary Montagu


I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.  ~Author unknown, attributed to a 4-year-old named Lauren


In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips.  ~Author Unknown


When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?  ~Pam Brown


The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble.  ~Clara Ortega

Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.  ~Carol Saline


Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow.  ~Benjamin Disraeli


When mom and dad don't understand, a sister always will.  ~Author Unknown


Elder sisters never can do younger ones justice!  ~Charlotte M. Yonge


A toast once heard:  "To my big sister, who never found her second Easter egg until I'd found my first."  ~Robert Brault,

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.  ~Isadora James


To the outside world we all grow old.  But not to brothers and sisters.  We know each other as we always were.  We know each other's hearts.  We share private family jokes.  We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time.  ~Clara Ortega


The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend.  ~Cali Rae Turner


An older sister helps one remain half child, half woman.  ~Author Unknown


An older sister is a friend and defender - a listener, conspirator, a counselor and a sharer of delights.  And sorrows too.  ~Pam Brown


There is no better friend than a sister.  And there is no better sister than you.  ~Author Unknown


Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.  ~Susan Scarf Merrell


I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers.  It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage.  Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.  ~Maya Angelou


A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self.  ~Marian Sandmaier


Our roots say we're sisters, our hearts say we're friends.  ~Author Unknown


Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago - the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled.  ~Jane Mersky Leder


Our siblings.  They resemble us just enough to make all their differences confusing, and no matter what we choose to make of this, we are cast in relation to them our whole lives long.  ~Susan Scarf Merrell


Sibling relationships - and 80 percent of Americans have at least one - outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship.  They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.  ~Erica E. Goode, "The Secret World of Siblings," U.S. News & World Report, 10 January 1994


Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring - quite often the hard way.  ~Pamela Dugdale


Sisters share the scent and smells - the feel of a common childhood.  ~Pam Brown


A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams.  ~Author Unknown


Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize.  Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks.  Borrow.  Break.  Monopolize the bathroom.  Are always underfoot.  But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there.  Defending you against all comers.  ~Pam Brown


Between sisters, often, the child's cry never dies down.  "Never leave me," it says; "do not abandon me."  ~Louise Bernikow


It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean on, someone to count on... someone to tell on!  ~Author Unknown

Sisters don't need words.  They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks - expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief.  Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs - that can undermine any tale you're telling.  ~Pam Brown


One of the best things about being an adult is the realization that you can share with your sister and still have plenty for yourself.  ~Betsy Cohen


We know one another's faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortification, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar.  We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws.  ~Rose Macaulay


Sister to sister we will always be,
A couple of nuts off the family tree.
~Author Unknown


We acquire friends and we make enemies, but our sisters come with the territory.  ~Evelyn Loeb


We may look old and wise to the outside world.  But to each other, we are still in junior school.  ~Charlotte Gray


Whatever you do they will love you; even if they don't love you they are connected to you till you die.  You can be boring and tedious with sisters, whereas you have to put on a good face with friends.  ~Deborah Moggach


You keep your past by having sisters.  As you get older, they're the only ones who don't get bored if you talk about your memories.  ~Deborah Moggach


It's hard to be responsible, adult and sensible all the time.  How good it is to have a sister whose heart is as young as your own.  ~Pam Brown



She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities.  She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway.  She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark.  She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink.  Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.  ~Barbara Alpert

The Mommy Blues

The year Tara turned 15 she babysat all summer and compiled quite a nest egg. Sometime in August I ordered a pizza and it turned out the pizza guy no longer accepted checks, so I asked Tara to loan me twenty dollars. When Tara told me she had no money left I asked her what she had spent it on. She proceeded to hem and haw, but would give me no solid answer. Frustrated, I got the pizza man to take my check and then proceeded to grill her about where the money went and the importance of not wasting it. 

A few weeks later we celebrated our wedding anniversary and (you are getting the drift, aren't you?) Tara presented us with a small, lightweight, beautifully wrapped box. What do you suppose was in the box? Of course, two tickets to the Moody Blues who were playing at the University of San Diego. Tara said, "Mom, that is what I spent my babysitting money on!" I am crying yet again at the retelling of this story. One, that my 15 year old was so unselfish (as she was supposed to be at that age). And two, that I still forget at times how wonderful she is and how lucky I am to have the children that I do. As I said, not my finest hour. My finest hours have been the ones spent with them.

Babies

"When they placed you in my arms, you slipped into my heart" -Author unknown  

"Babies! What a wonderful way to start people!"
-Mary Engelbreit 

"Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while." - Unknown

"First you have to teach a child to talk, then you have to teach it to be quiet."
- Prochnow 

"Human beings are the only creatures on Earth that allow their children to come back home." - Bill Cosby

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
- Frederick Douglas

"Everyone is in awe of the lion tamer in a cage with half a dozen lions - everyone but a school bus driver." - Unknown

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." - Franklin P. Jones 

"People who say they sleep like babies usually don't have them".
- Leo J. Burke

"Invest in the future; have a child and teach her well." - Unknown

"There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies." - Winston Churchill 

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." -Phyllis Diller

"It is not a slight thing when those so fresh from God love us."
- Charles Dickens 

"I always wondered why babies spend so much time sucking their thumbs. Then I tasted baby food."- Robert Orben

"To be in your child's memories tomorrow, be in his life today." - Unknown

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Friday the 13th Dismissed

When my nephew turned 13 he called me (very excitedly), "Aunt Michelle, Aunt Michelle, I turned 13 today!" Congratulations Jason, that is a long time to be alive. "But it's Friday the 13th, and I'm turning 13!" Wow, that is interesting says I. "But AUNT Michelle I am turning 13 on Friday the 13th AND my name is Jason!!!" I'm sorry, I get the Friday the 13th, but what does your name have to do with it? "Haven't you ever seen Nightmare on Elm Street?" No, I'm sure I haven't. Why? "Because the bad guy is named Jason!" OOOOH!!! I see! Ok, from now one I will call you by your middle name, that IS really freaky. "Never mind, Aunt Michelle, never mind." It has always bothered me that I had let him down at a pivotal moment. But I still don't buy Friday the 13th.