Remember When

My sister’s birthday is coming up and this card will soon be making its way to her mailbox.  Can you guess which of the following sentiments is found inside the card: 

A.  Were we ever young?

B.  Boy, were we stupid!

C.  We waited to do so many “fun” things…..why not for getting older?

D.  What was the matter with us?

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The girls pictured on the card do somewhat resemble my sister and I---a blonde and a brunette with adorably angelic faces, politely smiling and willingly sharing toys with one another.  Ah, how the passage of time allows one to wax glossy about the past.  Thankfully, the truth is I am blessed with many very special childhood memories of playing with my sister, though smiles and politeness aren’t always part of the picture.  I, the older sister, tended to be bossy at times while my sister could be rapidly overtaken by tears and pouting (a malady termed  “second child syndrome” by our mom).

Usually, the type of play we engaged in could be summed up by one word---“store” or “school” or “office” or “house”.  For example, on our farm a “house” could be made in the corncrib or in an unused cattle trough or at the base of a towering maple tree.  Initially, there might be an argument over who would get to be the mom for rarely did either of us offer right away to be the kid.  Sometimes, we pretended to be orphans, our parents dead and gone due to some calamity or other, leaving us to fend for ourselves, baking mud pies in an old pan over a pretend fire and using rocks and sticks to make furniture.  Most likely, many of you played similarly when you were young and wouldn’t we all give just about anything for the chance to go back and do it all again.