We all celebrate holidays, we take the day off, we hang a
flag or make a big meal, and sometimes all three. All our holidays are either
religious or national, but I contend we should have personal holidays, like an
anniversary or a birthday or someone else’s for that matter.
With this in mind, I am proposing ‘Tessie, my older sister
(much older) birthday Day’! I know it is a mouth full, but she is always using
hers, so why not.
Old Tess and I go back a ways, way back. When mom had had
it, and wanted to get away form me for a short respite, she would summon
Tessie, my older sister (much older) and send her to a store, usually in
Manhattan and ordered that she take me too, that’s why mom made the big bucks,
she was a master planner.
Tessie, my older sister (much older) had a great influence
on me, teaching me things like peeling off the paint from the window sill and
dropping it three stories on someone’s head, or taking the box of candy called
‘Red Hots’, and dropping them through the stairwell banisters to hit the bottom
floor and ‘ping’, causing Lena, the superintendent of the building to come out
of her apartment and yell at us with her Italian accent!
I guess what I’m saying is that SHE: Tessie, my older sister
(much older) made what I was, a big pain in the butt, of which I am eternally
grateful. If it weren’t for her, I would have been a good child, obedient,
docile and quiet. Instead, she saved me from all that and led me on to my life
of well… fun.
Today is her birthday, she is getting older then her younger
brother, (much younger): me, and will have to deal with what it is. Mom always
liked her, because she took me to Piken Avenue, Manhattan and school and out of
mom’s hair, so mom too will celebrate.
But old Tess, my older sister (much older) got her licks in
too, often destroying a whole play area as she gleefully did the vacuuming on a
Saturday morning while I was playing. Killing her was out of the question since
she was under orders to vacuum, and had some balloons that we could fill with
water and drop on people’s head as they walked by our apartment.
My children are unaware of the things she Tessie, my older
sister (much older) taught me, and would be surprised, but I had to come clean
for Tessie, my older sister (much older) sake.
So: without further ado.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESSIE!
Love,
Your younger brother (much younger)
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