Baby Sister

This beautiful face did battle with a big wave on a beach in Puerto Rico last week. Unfortunately, the wave won. My little sister suffered a concussion, broken cheek bones, and damage to her right eye. I learned about the accident the day after when my nephew Louis posted this account on Facebook: "Only one at the hospital from the 12' waves today"; and then, "Mom's waiting for surgery. Check out the picture I just posted!"

After spending a day at the hospital and not feeling terribly enthused about the options there Janis decided to wait until she could be back home to have anything done. So she snorkeled and enjoyed the rest of the vacation as much as she could. Not being able to eat some of her favorite foods was her greatest disappointment. Yup, she's tough!

Today - 10 days after the accident - she had surgery. The doctor did the 'simple' version where he went in through a small incision behind her ear and pushed the bones back into place. It will take 2 weeks to know if it's going to work; if not, plan B will be a much more drastic procedure. Heal well, sweet baby sister!

The baby of the family always gets spoiled – and – the baby of the family always gets picked on. I believe there is a correlation, but I know I picked on Janis a lot more than she deserved. She was a blonde cutie-patootie who would entertain herself forever in her tiny playroom under the basement stairs. Being six years older, I think I was more jealous of the fact that she was still a little girl who could play with her Easy Bake oven and her Chatty Cathy doll, while I had to be a responsible teenager. And I knew she was mom and dad's favorite because she was the baby.

She endured a lot of grief from her four older siblings. It’s obvious to me now that we get some of the credit for how amazingly tough and tenacious she is!

Janis has overcome the trauma of her youth quite well. More than once, one or two of us would spider-climb up the walls of the hallway to the ceiling and then call Janis. She would come around the corner all innocent and cute, and we would drop down and scare her.

When playing in our backyard at about the age of five she was hit in the back with an arrow – the teenage boy next door was shooting arrows straight up into the air. We all knew she was really lucky that it wasn’t more serious.

Janis loves action and adventure. She has her fair share of the gypsy blood that runs through our veins. In her college years she and a friend traveled to Africa (among other places) to visit the friend’s boyfriend. They actually walked into a pretty scary situation – the tribe tried to keep them there and force them both into marriage!

When we were in Bolivia visiting our brother and his family a few years ago we were warned not to ride in certain taxis because of the risk of extortion and kidnapping. One day, all four sisters ventured out on our own to do some shopping in La Paz, with promises that we would only take the legal taxis to get home.

But alas, we could not hail a single one. And then Janis called out that she had one. We could see it wasn’t a legal one and resisted, but she kept saying, “It will be OK,” and silly geese that we are we climbed into the very back row of a minivan so we could all sit together. With each stop more people climbed in, extra seats were put down, and I soon realized that we were trapped. There was no way we could get out if we had to or wanted to. It was one of those horrifying, claustrophobic moments where I was breathing deeply and saying silent prayers; so was Diane and Sandy, but I think Janis just loved it! Obviously, we made it back safely, but we didn’t say anything to Gene and Wilma about it.

Diane, Sandy & Janis - Janis is gloating because she duped us all into riding in the illegal taxi.

Janis is married to a wonderful guy. Jerry is full of fun and adventure too, and they have four terrific kids - six if you count the marrieds. It’s always a hoot to hang out with them, and you never know when you’re going to be the brunt of a joke. Their home is open to anyone, especially if you stay up all night and play Mexican Rummy (or go skiing or waterskiing or golfing with them). I lub, lub, lub my baby sister and her family!