sort-of-sisters.

my sweet cousin lauren sent this photo to me the other day. i think i was six and she was five. we were at our grandma's house in naples, florida (i thought everyone was saying "maples" until i was about 10 - as in syrup) for easter vacation, and i'd practically forced lauren to dress up like a dog and be in my play. i got to wear the pretty pink dress and play the heroine.

i seem to recall trying to force lauren to do a lot of things. poor girl. she was my pretty, little blond cousin that i adopted...er, abducted...as my kid sister every time she came to visit. she was supposed to be my doll. i wanted to try on makeup, play with dolls, put on plays and do all sorts of girly-things she had absolutely no interest in. she'd rather hang out with the boys while they played Atari or latch on to my older brother Lance's pantleg and let him drag her all over the house. i did not understand her tomboy proclivities, but i sure did love her. being the babies and the only girls in three-children families, i suppose we had to bond. it was a matter of survival. one of us had to go for help when the other was being held down and tortured by one of our brothers (usually involving a spit-loogie dangling perilously close to our face).

looking at this photo, i realize...lauren may have had to dress up like a dog, but i'm flashing the world my six-year old nip for all eternity. i think she got the better end of the deal.