Anyone out there remember that song? “What’s it all about Alfie?”  I always think of my sister Nancy saying that when there wasn’t anything else to say. It always makes me smile. I thought it was a good title for my very first post on this thing I am calling my blog. Feels kind of weird, doing this blog thing. That’s why I  had to include sister Nancy right off the bat, because Nancy has always been  one of my launchers in life… Nancy was the one that taught me how to ride a bike when I was seven. She was thirteen. My big sis..  How I remember feeling so wobbly on those wheels and not at all sure I could learn how to maneuver that bike. Nancy had patience. Nancy had perseverance and Nancy had drive. She still does today. (Well that part about patience?… maybe not so much. None of us sisters are big on the patience thing.)  … but back to Nancy. She helped me find my first real job as a teenager, life guarding in Denver, Colorado, when she was all of  22  and I was 17.  She packed me up in her car after convincing me to quit my then one week old job at the local  fast food place, “Harry’s Nifty Nine”  in South Dakota, and away I went for a summer of fun, living with her and husband Pete. I can still remember taking the life saving classes at our local swimming pool where Nancy was one of the instructors. I had to rescue her for the test. Thank goodness Nancy was a tiny, light weight lil thing, but even so, she whispered to me as I did the cross chest carry,  “You WILL pass, I’ll just tread water so it’s easier for you to pull me.”  She’s been treading water with me ever since..Sometimes calm waters, sometimes turbulent, as life has handed us the good and the bad.

Oh, I could go on and on about the adventures with sister Nancy! …. I guess I have a whole blog to do that, don’t I? So stay tuned folks, as I tell you what it’s all about, Alfie…This is going to be fun!  Oh and one more Nancy thing…she knows when to tell you the hard truth…Circa 1982: “Mary and Robin, you NEED to ditch those clogs. You are in San Diego now and it’s high heels”…. But that’s a whole other story…Oh and Robin? That’s a whole other sister. Have I mentioned there are five sisters in our family?  Oh yes, and four brothers. …and a great husband Mike, and two sons, Matt and Jeff, and plenty of stories.  Ok time to turn this microphone off for the day. Hey,  I kinda think I am now officially launched!

PS  Big thank you to my husband Mike for really getting this thing set up for me!