My Sister

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday!

I won't tell her age but I will tell you a little about her...

Talk about an interesting person...

Here we go!

I was two years old when Bobbie Jo left home to get married. She went to California to marry her husband he was out there in the Army. She was 17. Her first child was born about 9 months after she married, at 18. Her family of three moved back to Arkadelphia. 20 months later she delivered twins a boy and girl, Bobbie was now 19. Three babies within 20 months.

They lived two houses down from us, so my neice and nephews were like siblings for me.

I was 3 years older than her oldest, 5 years older than the twins.

When the twins were 4, Bobbie Jo and Charlie divorced.

Bobbie became the single mother that worked hard to raise her kids. At one time she had three jobs, selling Mary Kay makeup(she got a pink car for high sales!), working at a Timex watch factory, and going to Beauty School. It took her a long time to finish Beauty School with the other jobs and 3 kids, with no financial help from the father. My Mom and Dad were there for her but they were having their own struggles.

Different points in her life they moved to try different venues of work for her. She lived in Texarkana and worked for an ammunition plant during the war. She lived in the Little Rock area selling mink coats in an elite shop downtown. What a variety! No one has EVER called her boring!

When she finished Beauty School and got her license, there was no stopping her then. She put in her own shop in Malvern, AR. Another in Hot Springs, AR for a few years.

Later moved to Taylor, TX, and had her own shop there, and another at Phlugerville, TX.

Later than that she moved to Arlington, TX, and had her own shop in Midlothian,TX.

Yes, she was quiet an entrepreneur!

Throughout these years her children flourished into wonderful responsible caring adults.

Did she make mistakes in her own life, in her mothering life? Heck, yes.

Was she fun? Heck, yes.

Was she perfect? Heck, no.

How many of us can say we are perfect?

Our Mom's last five years were spent in Bobbie's home.

Our Mom's last moments of life were spent in Bobbie's arms.

Mom wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Tomorrow when she blows the candles out on her cake as her grandchildren are gathered around her chanting "Go Nanny Jo"(which name I chose for her with the first grandbaby due and she was feaking out not wanting to be called "Grandma"at the tender age of 44!)

She can look back on her "resume of life past" and really be amazed at all the crooks and turns and where the roads have all come out so far. She has the three grown children and 11 grandchildren and one great grandchild, and another on the way. Whew...

Happy Birthday, sweet, crazy, nuttie, vivacious, loonie, adorable, hilarious,.... sis.