Three sisters, times two

The old ones:

My sisters  visited me a few days ago. That's me in the middle. (I don't smile as well/naturally for pictures as they do.) We had a wonderful time, mostly just talking, although we did visit both of my granddaughters.

Pauline is two years, four months, and five days older than I am, so from the time I was old enough to play, I had a playmate. We got along as sisters usually do, with our share of fighting/arguing (Mother didn't allow physical violence). I remember at least once when I was six or seven that Mom made me stay home and let Pauline go off with  the older girls. I wasn't happy of course, but Mother was right.

Renee is seven years, five months and about ten minutes younger than I am. That's enough age difference that we weren't playmates. She was just the cute little sister - the baby of the family.

We spent most of our adult lives widely separated geographically - Pauline in Florida, me in New Jersey and Renee in Kentucky. Often several years went by without our seeing each other. Now that I'm back in KY and Pauline spends summers in the state (although I'm still 250 miles from either of them and they are 90 miles apart), we like to get together at least once a year.

The young ones:

A blended family. Kyra is 13 1/2 months older than Rose. They've been 'almost sisters' for two years now. They play well together. Kyra is sometimes a PITA (I have little patience for fussy eaters), but she has beautiful, sparkly eyes. Rose is one of the most delightful children you could meet (she has a nicer smile than in this picture - this one looks forced, doesn't it?). And Lily hasn't shown her personality yet.

Sara said Rose ignores the baby much of the time, and Kyra tends to bother her too much. I imagine in a year or two they'll be saying, "Mommy/Sara keep her away from us; she's messing up our things." Such is life!