Monday, June 1, 2009

Anniversary's

Ok, so where were you on Nov. 22,l963? (If you were alive then.) How about 9-11-2001? Those are anniversarys that many of us have in common. June 2,2009 is a more personal one for me, and one that I share with a handful of people. It is the 1 year anniversary of my twin sister's death from lung cancer gone wild! The day will pass with most folks not remembering it's importance, even if they do remember that my sister died last year. I've always had an uncanny knack for remembering dates, and numbers. I won't bore you with how much trivia floats through my brain! I worked for AAA for 36 years and still remember most of my agents numbers that identified who they were! Anyway, one of the persons who remembers Arlene's departure is her former boss, Teri. We have adopted her as a sister now, and keep in touch via email. So this is the note I received yesterday:
Hi my Sisters; I am surely thinking of you and hope you're okay. I wanted to share how we are remembering Arlene on the 2nd; we are putting on lipstick and eating ice cream at 8:00am, in her memory. I am not sure you know all the history about that and the significance. Arlene loved ice cream, often between classes we would make an ice cream run and then "hide" hers under something so we could sneak it past the afternoon class kids as we went through the classroom. She said only get her a small chocolate dipped cone-but we always went for bigger and bigger is better with ice cream! We had some funny things happen trying to sneak in a chocolate dipped cone! Secondly, even when Arlene felt crappy, she would put on her make-up and her lipstick. We always admired her for putting on a happy face. So, if you care to join us, 8am is the time. I just wanted you to know how we are planning our day and how very much she is missed.
I have a picture that sits on my desk of Teri;Debbie;Becky and me holding glass bottles. Last year on a visit home to Washington, we got together, wrote good-bye notes and memories of Arlene, sealed them in the bottles, and Teri and her daughter threw them in the ocean along the coast. It was to bring closure-and yet we all still remember.
So tomorrow morning, June 2nd, at 8:AM, we will have an ice-cream cone to celebrate Arlene and the anniversary. If you know me at all, you will know that I'll skip the lipstick! I used to watch Arlene putting on her make up and told her it was a "paint-by-number" process.
You have to be old to remember that, also. So, that's it for this first anniversary!