Glenda ~ The Good Witch

Every family has a "STAND OUT".  The overachiever.  The sweetest.  The kindest.  The nicest.  The one who can do no wrong, because they can't even conceive the idea of doing wrong.

In my family ~ not the one that I gave birth to, but the one I was born into ~ that ONE would be my little sister, twenty years my junior ~ Glenda.  She is goodness personified.  I like to equate her to "Rainbows and Unicorns" and her unicorns shit Skittles.  So beware people, if you can piss Glenda off, you will one day burn in Hell.  I've never heard her say a bad word about anyone.  She always looks for and finds some sort of goodness in people.  With regards to the Devil himself she'd say, now Michelle, you know he was once an Angel before he fell from Grace. 

Her name was not always Glenda.  Our father and her mother didn't name her Glenda, I did.  The name they put on her birth certificate was Tiffany Diane.  Let's get this straight right now, I was six months away from turning 21 when she was born.  And I'll be the first to acknowledge that at the time, I was far from happy about her impending birth.  After all, I had been the ONLY daughter for 20 something years.

My first nickname for her was Boo.  (Yep, I was way ahead of time.  It's so very commonplace today, but it wasn't 34 years ago.)  The reason she became Boo was due to fits of crying; exaggerated, embellished and completely theatrical crying.  She would do this when she didn't get her way.  "Boo, boo who who...."  I'd laugh at her and tell her she really had to try harder!  That usually ended with her in fits of laughter.  And that folks is how she morphed from Tiffany to Boo.  It stayed that way until she gave birth to her own first born.

It was about that time the name Glenda came into play.  Unless you live in a very remote, obscure location, in say Outer Mongolia, you should be familiar with Glenda.  As in Glenda the Good Witch.  She and I can each say the same the meaning of the definition of a word or phrase, however, Glenda's comes across with such a sweetness that no one can turn her down, get irritated, misinterpret or get hostile.  I, on the other hand, can simply look at someone and they turn and flee in the opposite direction.  Something about me being extremely intense and very intimidating.  Passionate maybe, misunderstood regularly.  But I think I am very approachable, logical, and willing to listen to another's opinion.  Unless, that opinion is moronic, imbecilic, or just plain stupid.  And none of those issues bothers Glenda, she has the patience of Jobe.

Neither one of us realized how commonplace my nickname for her had become until our father was in intensive care.  It took us a little bit to realize what was happening, all the nurses were calling her Glenda.  They thought that was genuinely her name.

I finally found the perfect sister hoodies for us.  What do you think?

Memories ~ Are you hearing Barbra singing?

~~ Memories......   If you answered yes to hearing Barbra (either silently or out loud), your age is showing.  And if it was out loud and you're sitting out somewhere in public please note people are probably looking at you questionably.  If you answered, "Who is Barbra", your age is showing.  For those in the "know" there doesn't even need to be a last name associated.  The spelling alone will do the job.

On the road again, lol, now who's hearing Willie?  Sorry folks, I guess this morning I'm channeling my inner Cristen ~ bright shiny object.  (And no, googling Cristen won't help you identify her.)  Let me attempt to get back on track.  Memories, they can flash, flood, overwhelm, make us laugh, make us cry, make us ponder what in the world were we thinking at the time.

I find it absolutely amazing that all of our senses, you remember those, we learned about them in elementary school.  Of course back then there were only five:  sight, taste, hearing, touch & smell.  WTH,  if you google it now, they've up the number to 9.  Not so sure I agree with the four new additions, but then they didn't ask me.  Much like Pluto.  Pluto will ALWAYS be a planet (and life long companion of Mickey).  There's that dang bright shiny object again....  Sorry.  Senses.  Memories.  I find it truly and absolutely amazing that all five of those original senses can alone, or in any combination together, trigger a memory that hits you as quickly as the speed of light.  Yes, Mark Bollman, I'm exaggerating but you get my point.

And how a memory, triggered by one sense, can simultaneously trigger another different sense.  Example:  I can hear a song, and BOOM.... I'm remembering a Friday night dance after a football game 39 years ago .  Slow dancing with my "first love" (yep, everyone has one).  But in that very next instant, while I'm remembering how it felt, remembering the sounds, BOOM.... I can remember how he smelled.  And it's actually such a strong memory, I can actually smell him.  Of course no one else can, but it's there. 

What's the first memory you can remember?  I'd love to hear it!  Mine, I was three.  My dad was talking on the phone.  He hung it up.  I can remember it had a long curly cord and even the location of it on the wall in the kitchen.  We walked into my bedroom and he let me pick out my favorite outfit, my closet doors slid open and shut.  We're back in the kitchen and he's helping me finish buttoning up the little blue top / jacket. I looked like a little sailor.  I remember him telling me today was a very special day because we were going to the hospital to pick up my mom and my brand new baby brother.  I was three.  It was March 1967.

I can't remember anything else from 1967 but that one stands out clear as day.  

It's not just about the destination, but the journeys we take to get there.  AND the memories we make along the way......  Now maybe my grown men boys will understand why I ALWAYS told them daily to "make good memories".