I Am Alone No Longer

(My mom her senior year of high school.  It wasn't too long after this picture that she was married and had me on the way.)

I remember before my sister, Jennifer, came along how I lived so care free.  My mom was pregnant and I remember that somewhat, but I remember that I was taken to stay with my Aunt Nellie, mom's oldest sister, to stay for a few days because my sister was being born.  I remember being so upset because I missed both my mom and dad very much, but was told that I would have a little sister soon.  When she was born, I was told about it, but I just wanted my mom and dad.  I was 3 1/2 and didn't care about anything other than I hadn't seen them in a couple of days.

Finally, they came home and I remember my mom telling me that my little sister was here.  I asked if she was in the bassinet and I walked up and shrugged my shoulders like it was no big deal.  I can remember seeing my mom and her looking like she had been through something rough physically, I guess giving birth can do that to you.

(I was around 3 1/2 at this time, my perfect world was over)

My sister would cry, loud and I didn't like the sound to my ears. I can remember one day after she got home that they wanted her and I to take a picture together.  Mom draped a cover over a chair and put her down and she was screaming.  I didn't like it and didn't want to have any part of the picture, but mom finally told me to lie down next to her.  They took a picture and I smiled, but I can remember that as soon as mom told me I could get up, I was gone!

It was a different world as I now had my little sister to play with.  I didn't quite get playing with dolls, but I am sure I did once or twice, but since I was the older brother, we often did what I wanted like play baseball or basketball.

(that's the first bike I learned how to ride)

We had some fun times growing up together on Castetter Road in Henryville.  We had a swing hanging from a tree and a BIG back yard (not really, but it seemed that way).  It was there that I learned about the magical feeling of Christmas as we had some good ones.  It was at that house that I was afraid for awhile to go outside because I was afraid that the cows next door would get me.  It was there that my older cousins taught me that an electric fence will go through a metal cap gun (thanks guys), and it was there that my dad's cousins would come and hang out on the weekends.

It was also at Castetter that I developed my first friends who lived across the street...great times playing every day going home only to eat and take a bath.

(My sister, Jennifer, and I at one of her birthday parties on Castetter Rd., I was probably 6 or 7 years old)