Family

Today's the polar opposite of yesterday, as far as the weather goes. Sunny, bright, reasonably warm. It's been a great day. I feel like I've accomplished a lot, and I may not be done yet. Who knows! I do have more things that need to be done. We'll see if my energy holds out or not.

When I was born, I was the first girl on my Great-Grandfather and Grandmother Dorsey's branch of the family tree for 28 years. When I'm feeling down, I can always remember how special they all thought I was! My two first cousins were 8 and 10 when I was born. Even with that age difference, we were always close.

There are photos in my baby album that I love of the two of them with me when I was six months or so old. We were all out in our front yard, and there are two photos........in one photo, Joy was holding me and Ted was pouting.......in the other photo, Ted was holding me and Joy was pouting. They're great photos!

Our families spent a lot of time together when I was small. Holiday dinners were usually at our house, because we had a bit more room. But apart from the holidays, time was spent at both houses. I especially remember spending a lot of time at their house, because at the time they had a TV and we didn't. I have memories of Friday nights at their house so the guys could watch Friday Night Fights.

My special memories of going to their house was spending time with the boys. They never seemed to mind too much having a much smaller girl cousin tagging around after them. I think they may have even liked it! That didn't stop them from picking on me, but I gave as good as I got.

Before I was old enough to go to school, we stayed at their house during a winter snowstorm when our road was snowed in and I was sick and needing to go to the doctor. There was a small store in nearby Mandeville, and the bus driver would let students off to shop while he made a loop dropping off local students. One of those days at their house, the boys came in from school and Ted told me he'd bought me something at the store – and he handed me a box of lemon-flavored Vicks cough drops. They were new on the market then, and he was so proud of buying them. I tried so hard to choke one down, even though I was having stomach issues with whatever it was I had. Mom was in my ear reminding me that Ted probably had spent his last dime on those cough drops. I think I did get one down, then I told Mom I just couldn't handle any more. I've never had another lemon cough drop.

It wasn't much after that when Joy let us know that he had something for me. Mom and Dad were neither one too happy when they found out his gift was a little kitten he'd found along the road. But since he'd already given me the kitten, they couldn't really say no. The cat ended up being really good at keeping mice out of the barn, so Joy was eventually forgiven.

The only time I ever remember being irritated with either of them was when I was about six and Joy got a Thunderbird convertible. He only gave me one ride in that convertible with the top down – and I had to sit in the back seat because Grandpa was in the front seat with Joy. Hmph!

My most memorable Christmas with them was, I believe, 1960. Our grandmother was in the hospital after a heart attack, so Dad and their parents went to Kansas City to see her. Joy and Ted spent the day with Mom and me. They were milking our cows for Dad, as well as doing chores for our neighbor up the hill (who was in the hospital with a broken leg). It was a 60 degree day, we were able to let the fire in the woodstove go out and open the doors. It was not a traditional Christmas, but it was a memorable one.

Those guys were so special to me, even after we were all grown and had kids. After their parents divorced and life changed, my parents became like surrogate parents to them. I couldn't think of anyone better to be my adopted brothers!