Day 163: Happy Birthday to my baby sister

Janice, Grace, Karen and Coco mid 1990’s

Janice was born the year that I turned ten. I remember walking with my Mom to her Avon customers that summer. It was very clear that my Mom was having a baby and that was quite an event in the neighborhood. My mother had had three girls before Janice was born and I remember that there was some hope that this fourth child might be a boy. As it turned out, the news that we received that night from the hospital was “It’s a girl.” And so the new, and last, baby had the same initials as my Dad : JLM – Janice Lynn Morse.

It may not have seemed likely, but at my young age, I wanted to help with that baby. My Mom had had three other children and by this time was okay with letting the baby “cry herself to sleep.” I wasn’t much more than ten and thought that that was the worst thing that one could do. And when I picked up that crying baby I was told, “Now you can’t put her down until she is asleep.” And so I didn’t. As a child of ten I was perfectly content to walk the baby until she fell asleep. It just seemed right to do this. And I think that is where our bond began.

We are ten years and a million miles apart. We like some of the same things but in some ways we couldn’t be more different. Janice loves to go fishing; I am happy to look at fish in a tank. I love to cook all kinds of food from scratch; Janice does not share this interest. She has always lived on Staten Island and I left there about thirty years ago.

To this day, my sister Janice can make me laugh like no one else can. She can do this because she knows me better than anyone else. We have shared so much in our lifetime and it is my hope that we will continue to be there for one another for as long as we are able.

Today Janice received a Brownie Pie in the mail. It was sent with love to my baby sister, of whom I am so very proud!