My Sister Ginny

I suppose if I had to limit a description of my sister Ginny to just a few words, it would have to be her endurance and strength of scaling the mountains tops in her life. She rose above circumstances with her infectious laugh and sense of humor; her way of escaping the reality of horrid situations. She has given much love to others, when she was in need of love herself. She has always flown as the eagle who always uses the high winds to propell himself above the storms. Her chasing of the winds began very early in life.



Only she can truly tell her story, so I can only relay what she has shared with me from her heart about her childhood. Mother evidently found herself in a dilemma, having made some wrong choices in life and I'm sure felt helpless in the situation she found herself in. She only loved one of her children, and Ginny was not the one. Mother's favorite nickname for Ginny was "stupid". The only source of solace in Ginny's life when she was a child, was her dad. He understood and loved her and did not inflict the physical or verbal abuse on her that he did on the rest of the family. Even before mother left, Ginny was really our caregiver.



Ginny's 14th birthday will always be one of dubious proportions in her memory. No Happy Birthday dear daughter, no cake, no candles. Her gift that day was of a magnitude that even an adult would have been perplexed, not to mention a 14 year old child. She was given full responsibility of seeing to the needs of 2 young children ages 1 and 16 months old. Mother had given her instructions to take us to an orphanage, but Ginny loved us so much, she was afraid we would be seperated if taken there. She kept us, going with us to the welfare homes, watching, but helpless when we were abused. Finally she was forced to tell the Welfare Office about her family in the mountains of Virginia.



Poor Ginny, didn't stand a chance. She was skinny and pale with those haunting big blue eyes, and Ma just never took a likin' to her. Ma despised mother also, describing her as a "fureigner", seeing as how she was from Alabama.



All during my young years, Ginny would try and reverse some of the destructive behavior I was learning from Ma. I'm sure Ma was not aware of the pattern she was instilling in my mind, but however, it remained for many years and caused much emotional damage in my life.



When Ginny was 17, she received the call at school that mother had died. Her life seemed to be over, because she desperately loved mother, it didn't matter what kind of treatment she had received from mother. Thomas and Ginny attended mother's funeral in Birmingham, Al. Daddy(Ginny's dad) did not go, but chose to remember mother as the beautiful and talented woman she was.

When I was 12, Ginny came home from a traveling sales job and took us out of the mountains of Virginia. She knew only too well, what all was happening. She didn't have to take us, she had 2 children and one on the way. Her finances were not such that she could afford another 2 mouths to feed, but feed us she did. One day, hopefully I will have my book released and tell all the funny and sad things that happened during my life, but suffice to say, Ginny made a great sacrifice to take us with her. We had some severe problems during the years, but it was finally all resolved about 10 years ago. We now keep in constant contact and see each other as often as possible. I have never forgotten her sacrifice, and will always give honor where honor is due. The giving of roses from me to her began when I was about 12 years old and will continue to be given until she can no longer smell their sweet fragrance.

Ginny loves roses, so I have included on her page a globe made for me with a picture of some of my roses.







 

 






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