THE PROMISE
I was eight-years-old and in the third grade when my youngest sister Joyce was born. I attended Catholic elementary school and Sister wrote about my new sibling on the blackboard.
I remember being half awake when my mother left in the middle of the night to go to the hospital. My father came home the following afternoon with the news about a new baby sister and a giant chocolate bar for us.
On arriving home from school a few days later, I was excited to see my mother standing in the kitchen stirring something, dinner I guess, in a big pot. I felt strange to see her again; there was so much I did not understand. But one thing for certain, there was this new little life, fast asleep in the tiny white crib that had been home to five other siblings before her.
Joyce was always petite; even our parish priest had nicknamed her "peanuts," a name that stuck with her and some of her classmates.
Years went by, and one particular Sunday, my mother was talking to us, and worried that if something would happen to her, who would take care of Joyce. She said we were all old enough to fend for ourselves but what about this eleven-year-old. My first reaction was to stop talking about this; nothing is going to happen; and if you feel better about it, I will care for Joyce.
Call it a premonition, three days later my mother died on a cold February night, with just my sisters, Mary, Joyce, and I present. My father, a baker by trade, worked the night shift and sometimes two jobs to support the family. My older brother and sister were married and my younger brother away at school.
A massive heart attack had claimed my mother's young life of 52 years. Somehow we all managed to get through that winter leaning on each other for support.
It's been 35 years and I have kept my promise made on that long ago Sunday. I have been with Joyce through good times and bad. I've attended numerous school occasions, mother-daughter receptions, her wedding, the birth of her three daughters, birthdays, holidays; the list goes on and on. I've been sister, mother, grandmother, mentor, counselor, but above all, friend. After all, we're inseparable, we're sisters!!