INTRODUCING MY SISTER
© 2003, Tina L. Curtis
My sister, Tammy, has been my friend for as long as I can remember. We have had our ups and downs but we have remained able to trust and love one another enough to share our secrets.
My sister has been bigger than me since I was about five years old. She made decisions about what we would do many times just because she could "put me in my place". Other times my own stubbornness would interfere causing us to get into a fight. She always won.
Tammy has always been smart…you know, intelligent. She could think fast and do almost anything when it came to school work. That was good for me, because though I was three years ahead of her in school, she could always help me with my homework. Most of the time she became impatient with my stupidity and just did it herself. It worked for me!
Tammy has always been the smart one in other ways. She has been a spiritual leader to me. In her own quiet way, she has shown me how I should follow God. She has diligently kept up with her devotions even with two children at her side. She has been faithful in church attendance and has held many offices in the church. She has also been instrumental in leading her children to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I have chosen to write a book about our childhood because my sister has a short memory. Like my father, she has difficulty remembering things without someone jarring her memory with a story. Her two girls have become interested in their mother’s childhood. I have always been a storyteller. My ability to remember the slightest details about silly things that have happened make telling stories very memorable for Tammy’s children; including the items in this story.
GREEN CRAYONS & TYING SHOES
The day was a clear, sunny summer afternoon. Tammy and I decided we wanted to color but preferred to be outside enjoying the sunshine. We gathered our coloring books and crayons and headed for the driveway. Our driveway was cemented and sloped from the road to the garage. We sat down just outside the back door beside the garage to begin our project.
We sat quietly coloring when Tammy leaned over and couldn’t reach the green crayon. She asked me to pass it to her. I was already in Kindergarten but things didn’t come to me quite so well as they did Tammy who was two years younger.
I stared at the colors finally choosing a purple one to hand to her. "That’s not green!", she scolded. "Okay, then which one is green?" I asked. She pointed to the correct crayon which I handed to her. She must have thought I was stupid but I don’t recall her saying so.
The same type of incident happened with the shoes. Tammy was in Kindergarten. I was in second grade and still struggling to learn. We were in my Dad’s office which is where we kept our shoes because the door to the garage was there. I had yelled for Mom to come help me tie my shoes so I could go out but she hadn’t responded. Tammy, who was also putting her shoes on, decided to help.
Tammy didn’t believe in just doing it for me, at least not usually. She wanted me to do it myself. She tried to teach me what to do: over and under, pull loop around, through the hole and pull. By the time she was done I had tied my own shoe!
