How Could She Not?

In February it will be 9 years since my family portrait was forever changed with the untimely passing of my sister owing to breast cancer.

Today is Nancy's birthday and every year I like share a memory to honor her special day. Usually they are on the 'grab-a-tissue' side but not this time as I reach back to our teenage years.

My little sister was probably the first person to accept my lifestyle. You see, we were less than a year apart so in essence she grew up with it as 'natural' nearly as much as I did - how could she not?

I mean, we moved around a lot and often it was just the two of us left to entertain one another. Until high school when we went our separate ways. The drama department was my calling and it kept me pretty busy and she had her things - which don't spring to mind at the moment.

In my senior year the spring musical was a great show called, Pippin. I didn't get a proper role but the show has a lot of dialog spoken by the chorus members and I was favored with many of these lines and by extension kind of created my own character. And it was a stand-out, of course.

Anyway, there is a scene in which I refused to give Pippin his sword to go into battle to which he insists, "But I'm Pippin, one day I'll be king." I hand over the weapon with a catty retort, "And one day I'll be queen."

During the three-week run it got a lot of laughs. Sometimes even applause. People got the implied foreshadowing with which I laced my voice. I looked forward to that scene each night - it felt liberating.

The night my sister was in attendance there was a little commotion after my confessional thespian moment. Later that night when I got home I asked her about it she replied, "I was sitting next to some jerk who said to his friend that you were already a queen." She paused and then continued proudly, "So I slugged him."

Awe-some-ness.

I'm not sure why this is memory that came to mind to share with you today. Probably because I didn't appreciate her gesture enough at the time and I need to know if is it too late to thank her for it now?

***

Yea. I didn't think so.

Comments

[Ron Burton]

Great story and I can totally see you saying that line with pride night after night :o) What a protective sister- very sweet !!