The Gift

I know I couldn't... especially after having the one I've had for almost fifty six years.

Massey looks about four in the above picture which makes my sister almost fifty.

Not too shabby for a half centurion back then and dangit still looks better than me now.

So she was turning sixty three this month and wanted to do something special for her, just didn't know what.

She's been not only my sister but my "Momistor". That's when your mother dies when you are seventeen, only have an older sister left as a female role model and they knock it out of the park... for almost forty years.

She'll kill me for the above photo, both bare faced with no make up on but that's the way I think of us, real people.

Our pastry chef at work came in one day back at the beginning of the year with the cutest sling tote on, totally Reggae.

My sister carries a knapsack around with her. Granted it's a nice one my brother let her have when we were visiting him one year in Orlando, but still...

They were about twenty bucks so gave Ms. Connie (our pastry chef) money for two of them. She agreed to get one for me and one for my sister. It was such a cool bag, hung low on the hip and had pockets on the straps and front for cell phone, keys and inside was compartmentalized as well with different pockets. My sister is OCD and this bag was right up her (always neatly organized) alley.

I knew she deserved so much more than a twenty dollar gift, especially being related to me. I've been a trainwreck for years but she's always been right there by the tracks to help me up again.

So being a server who (if lucky) brings home cash after every shift, started tossing in one dollar bills after getting home. I stuffed the cell phone pocket first, then the wallet and key pocket. By this point was up to twenty bucks and had only been doing it for a couple of weeks. I crumpled all the bills up like tissue paper, hoping would fill it faster.

I really didn't even have to.

My son and daughter (after learning what I was doing) also started tossing in a little every now and then.

By the end of February we were up to two hundred dollars. By the middle of March, Spring Break hit the international terminal and some nights made enough money I'd throw in a twenty. One night I made over four hundred dollars and tossed in a fifty. Before I knew it, the Masters tournament was approaching and (lucky for me) a server lost their job for being a total incompetent (idiot). I picked up at least four extra shifts in addition to my own five and raked in money like I was raking leaves in a small flat yard with a really good rake.

When we counted last, a couple of days before her birthday were up to over four hundred. It was the greatest feeling in the world being able to do something for someone who has done so many things (selflessly) for so many others.

Without my sister, I wouldn't be me.

 I may not be the best person on earth but definitely a better person because of her.

 Who'd ever think at the age of my almost fifty six years ...we're all we have left?

Kudos go to having awesome parents!

 Both left way too early but impacted and directed our lives all for the better and thank goodness all three of us kids were observant and good listeners.

The above is one of my favorites. Definitely in the sixties and taken with my sister's Polaroid swinger camera.  Over two decades in and still in love. That kitchen, those people and that house are what made you a Leach or made you love one.

It's been a long and winding road since the sixties but with a brother and sister on each side of me like Cindy and Chris have had everything I've ever needed.

I think I'm the one who has gotten the greatest gift of all.

Our veiny hands growing old together. At least Cindy's (on the right) had a smashed thumb in this one. Guess I slashed my finger last week to one up her.

Live outside the touch of time, because time doesn't matter. Love does.

Til next time... COTTON