Vintage Friday: Sisters 1958

Flashback to 1958 with my sister in high school and me in primary school. Those who have sisters know how vital they are, how irreplaceable. We lost Marcella in 2004, and it just doesn’t seem possible that was ten years ago. She married when I was still  little, and I remember moping beneath the restaurant counter, missing my sister. She and our mother wore head scarves in different ways, Mama with the knot on top of her head, and my sister with the knot tied underneath her hair. I would mimic them, being in turn “Little Irene” and “Little Marcella.” Here’s a picture of her when she was little.

Although we both inherited different shades of blue eyes, my sister got the black wavy hair I always wanted, while I ended up with ultra fine, straight dishwater blonde. Mama was forever giving me perms, trying to entice waves into my hair. Eventually, after a few disasters (we’ll save those hilarious pix for another day), she finally gave up and put my hair in a pony tail for a few years and then, tired of detangling it, sent me to the barber shop next door where the barber chopped the pony tail off just above the rubber band. We kept that pony tail in a stocking for years. 

Like I said, my sister never had hair problems with her thick, dark waves. I can still see her all dressed up in a formal and her pretty Coty fuchsia lipstick. Purple was her favorite color, and I love it too. Here we are on our way to church. I think it’s funny that Mama also took a back view. No one could have been a sweeter, more genuine person than my sister, and she always took up for me. Today we would call it “having my back.” She did, without question, and I’ll always be grateful. She knew my dream was to be a writer, and her plan was to take me out to dinner when I published my first novel. Although she didn’t make it here on earth that long, I know she was there with me in spirit. Tomorrow is her birthday, and her children and all of us are thinking of her. Here’s to you, my Marcella! I love you, sister.