My sister Cathie flew in to Ohio last Sunday for a vacation. It's been a long time since all remaining siblings were in one place at one time. We had that opportunity this week for the first time since 1997. That's a long damn time.
Anyway, Cathie flew in last Sunday. I told her I'd pick her up at the airport and she wouldn't miss me, as I'd be the one crying. Hey, I can't help it. I'm an emotional kind of gal.
I got to the airport and stood at baggage claim next to the line of limo drivers. Sure enough, as soon as she texted me that she was on the ground, the crying started. I haven't seen her since Christmas 2007 and talking almost daily just isn't the same! The limo drivers were all giving me funny looks but who cares! I waited. And I waited. None of us are as young as we used to be but for crying out loud, if she walked any slower, she'd have been walking backwards! I swear!
We finally got our huge sister hug and the tears started to flow in earnest. Luckily, I had the foresight to put tissues in my pocket. We gathered ourselves up and got her bag and headed out.
As a side note, if you haven't been to the Cleveland airport in awhile, it's totally changed. There is a lot of construction going on both in and around the airport; what a mess. But, I digress.
From the airport, Mike, Mary Jane, Phil and Ron met us at a BBQ place not too far from the house for dinner, Moosehead. It was a great dinner. We laughed and giggled and hooted and hollered until they kicked us out to lock up the restaurant.
Monday Cathie and I spent the day being tourists in Lorain. From Lakeview Park to the Black River Landing and most of the places in between. Just about any place I've talked about going, I took Cathie to see. Even my local library!
We tried to go back in time for dinner. We bought the fixings to make City Chicken, hopefully like Mom used to do. The only problem was, we really weren't sure what it was that Mom did. We went to the meat department at Fligner's and picked up veal cubes, pork cubes and the wooden sticks to make the "legs". I trusted Cathie with a knife and she cut the cubes of meat to a more appropriate size while I jabbed at them with the sticks. After all was said and done, I have to admit, we were damn close to the way Mom used to make them! Way to go, Sissy! We make a great cooking team! Mom would have been proud.
Tuesday found us teaming up again in the kitchen as we had our friends Larry and Linda over for dinner. Again, lots of laughing, lots of joking and believe it or not, another great meal.
Then here is what happened on Wednesday:
Jim came from Erie, Michael came over and for the first time in a long time, we were all together. Good, bad or otherwise, we were all together. The old stories were told and retold. It's amazing that five of us have five different versions of some of our histories. That aside, I think a great time was had by all.
After all of the laughing and arguing and eating and story telling, Jim headed back to Erie with Cathie in tow. They had a whirlwind few days planned, touring New York and Pennsylvania. I can't wait to hear their stories when they return sometime Sunday evening.
Now after all of that, here is my public service announcement.
If anyone has an older brother, give him a good noogie. For real. Who'd have thought that at our ages, we'd still be pestering each other like this. Let me tell you though, that this simple act did me wonders. This has renewed my soul, just a little bit.
So follow my advice: if you have an older brother, give him a noogie. (Look out Phil, I'm not the only one that has you as an older brother!)
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