Some memories of my sister Jane (being honored today)
Jane was my sister, my friend, my mentor. Being only two years apart (I was younger), we were best play mates. She would get us outside to play ball or hopscotch or jump rope or jacks. She was always better than I because of the age difference but she would never make me feel bad if I didn’t get it. She would always praise me when I did. I remember playing Hide and Seek and we were both hiding under the porch. They found Jane but never found me and she never told where I was. They had to call “Allie, Allie in Free”.
I remember sharing a room with the twin beds. We would share stories about our friends, who like who and who was the current boy she wished would ask her out. We would spend hours looking out the window to watch the boys go by.
When she got a job in Worcester after college she called me and asked, “Dot, do you want to come and see my apartment and meet my roommate?” That was significant to me because she was accepting me on an equal level. That was the beginning of our adult relationship.
Jane was always there for me. She was there at the dance when I met my husband, Bob and then again two and a half years later to help me pick out my wedding gown. She was there to celebrate the birthdays, the anniversaries, the holidays and a few vacations.
Jane was the one that stayed near home. So when we went home for Christmas or Thanksgiving she was there. The part that will never be forgotten is how she was there for Mom and Dad. She had three kids and a job but managed to find time to visit with them weekly. Then when Dad was in the nursing home she would visit and later when Mom was at Joshua Place. She did this all while having chronic back pain from scoliosis. Yet she hardly ever complained.
We were together when Mom got the call that Dad had died. We were together when we got the call that Mom had died. I can still feel her hugs every time I think of those moments.
We had a lot of vacations together. However Lighthouse Cove was the best. When Jane and Bob moved to Florida and we went to visit we bought a Timeshare at Lighthouse Cove in Pompano Beach where they had a condo. So once a year I got to see my sister every day. We would take walks on the beach and go swimming in the ocean in January. They even took us down to The Keys and also Miami. Then we had mini reunions with Judy and Ralph and Pat and of course Pam. Then we added a week and our kids started coming too. Jane was the catalyst that made that happen.
Thanks for the memories, Jane. I miss you already.
Love from your sister, your friend.
