Tuesday, August 23, 2011

August 23, 2011

Mexican worry dolls embellish the flap
of a purse I made yesterday.
My father was an only child, so I don’t have any first cousins on the Akin side of my family. On my mother’s side of the family there were 11 first cousins, if I count Lori who was born pre-mature in the late 1950s, and lived less than a month. My older brother Bryan, who died in 2004, was the oldest cousin. I am the second oldest and my cousin Leigh, who is about a year younger than me, is third oldest. I was thinking about Leigh yesterday because it was her birthday.

We were giggly, hand-holding, secret-sharing friends when we were young. But that all changed when we got to high school. By then, my aunt had developed a terrible habit of pitting us against one another and forcing Leigh to do whatever I did, whether or not Leigh was interested. For example, I joined the drill team, so my aunt made Leigh join her high school drill team. I was interested in journalism, so Leigh had to get involved in journalism. I became an officer in my drill team, so Leigh had to try out to be an officer in her drill team. When she didn’t make officer and I did, Leigh resented me even more. Leigh even wore my hand-me-down clothes, including my formal that she wore to her prom. My aunt made Leigh go to the same college where I went. But at least during the year Leigh went to college, we had the opportunity to come to terms about how her mother pushed her to do whatever I did, even though we were such different people and had very different interests. Leigh couldn’t help but resent me, even though she knew it wasn’t my fault she was forced to follow after me. As adults we only see each other during family functions. In fact, the last time I saw Leigh was at my father’s funeral in 2007, when we hugged each other, held hands, and cried.

I found out yesterday, along with Leigh's two sisters, that she has cancer in both of her lungs and, for unknown reasons, has refused treatment for more than a year. On her birthday yesterday, she learned that she also has brain cancer. She’ll undergo surgery this morning to remove a tumor about the size of a lime from her brain. I hope her surgery is successful and that after she recovers, she’ll accept treatment for her lung cancer. I want another chance to hug each other, hold hands, and giggle as we did as girls.

Today I’m creating hope and prayers for Leigh. I know I wrote yesterday that I was going to put away my sewing machine and not sew anymore, but I think sewing will be a good diversion today. I have more purses I can make. Just one more day of sewing before I clean house for Sandy's arrival on Thursday.

1 comment:

  1. Once again a touching story from your own life. I love these stories the best. Tears in my eyes. Keep sewing.

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