My mom gave me a wonderful Mother's Day present this year. Many of them, actually. A big bag full of old pictures and letters sent home from camp. I've gone through the pictures. Generally I can say that I was a cute baby and toddler. Also kind of cute in the early years of elementary school. Something went horribly wrong late elementary school and into junior high because suddenly I look like a white, girl version of Urkel in all the photos. (Big glasses, striped or plaid shirts, no suspenders, at least. But there is evidence of white overalls worn with red Nike sneakers.) There seem to have been a few sane years during high school before I so unwisely decided to capstone the period with a permed, "new wave" mullet. Nice.
What really stuck me was how many of the photos were of me and my younger sister, Kate. We were born exactly one year apart. Our mother often dressed us in matching outfits. In most of the picture Kate was there, standing to my left. Two peas in a pod. She has been gone for 14 years now. Until I saw those pictures again I had kind of forgotten how we were always together. It makes me miss her all over again.
