I like this photo of my sister. There is another photo that I didn't choose to scan of myself from this same time. I was wearing a brown vest with little fringe on the bottom and I had this scar on my lip where I burned myself with a stick. Our neighbors had a cookout and we had roasted marshmallows on a stick and for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the lighted end of the stick up to my mouth. Turns out, I was wrong.
I guess that I like this photo so much, because it is reminiscent of a time in my life where my sister was my unconditional protector. When I was a kid, I had three favorite football teams. They were the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders. I decided to start rooting for the Raiders, because the other teams were soooo hideously bad! As a result of their ineptitude, I was picked on a bit by my classmates. The young people seem to especially despise the Browns ( I won't go into their reasons here). My sister gave me little lines to use in combating these punks and they seemed slightly effective. The only line that I remember now is, "Whatever gets you through the night." After hearing that comment, there was some initial confusion in their tiny minds, but eventually the punks would start again with the derogatory comments. Quick retorts like that one, however, gave me a brief respite.
Then there was time that I now refer to as "The Memorial Day Flag Incident". During the Camillus Memorial Day Parade, they used to hand out these tiny flags to all the little children that were present. I remember getting one and being so proud. When I returned home, I proudly waved it, marched around and pretended that I was in some sort of military color guard. One of my little neighbors that didn't attend the parade was extremely enamored with this miniature Old Glory and she begged me to give it to her and was teary-eyed when I refused.
Moments after our initial confrontation, I was distracted with yet another game of "Guns" and left the flag on the hood of my neighbor's 50's era Plymouth station wagon. When I returned for the flag, it was in the hands of the pint-sized neighbor girl. I asked for it back, but she refused. Soon it became a real blowout, as her mother insisted that it truly belonged to the girl and that I was mistaken. There was a lot of screaming and crying and the incident became a large heated mess. Of course, she was wrong and I wasn't (I still hold to this 38 years later!). I was extremely upset, but I didn't know who to turn to. Of course, my big sister knew right away what needed to be done.
Back then, people had a tradition of putting these tiny flags all over the front edge of their property. One of our neighbors had placed about a fifteen of them out in their lawn and it really looked a bit like the Arlington Cemetery. Well, the fact that her brother had his flag "borrowed" in such a manner, enraged Tammie. She stormed to the neighbors display of flags and pulled them up one by one out of the ground. She must have had all fifteen flags in her arms. Soon these flags were flying at the mother and daughter flag "thieves" and Tammie shouted a few choice words that included "Why don't you take these, too!" She then grabbed me by the arm and took me back across the street and to safety.
Today was a rough day for me. As has been the case over the last seventeen days, I have been thinking about how unbelievable it is that Tammie is gone. In addition, I felt a bit abandoned at work. This has been an ongoing trend for a couple of years there, but it dawned on me that this is probably just another example of human nature. Most people will speak up if they are directly affected, but very few will stick their necks out for someone other than themselves. I guess that is human nature, but as anyone who knew Tammie will tell you, it wasn't hers. She was absolutely one of a kind.
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