Oct. 15th 2009

Our Dad died at the age of 32. After he died Amy and I were very different about how we delt with it. She talked land talked about it. I on the other hand kept everything inside. This is when we started fighting. She thought I sohuld talk like she did. Talk to her. I simply couldn't. For one thing I didn't like everyone feeling sorry for me. Also I just couldn't put it into words. I was angery. Why had this happened? What had I done? What was going to happen to us?
So much happen after Daddy died. His mother, Grandma, moved back in and we stayed in the house. That was good we didn't have to move. We got a little dog and named him Pug. He was the best! There will never be another Pug! Time passed. We never got any couseling to help deal with anything.

Not everything was sad. We had good times growing up. We stayed in Rickman and still had all our friends. Amy and April Sullivan where always together. I had Bub, he lived down the hill from us. Amy was always going somewhere. She didn't like staying home. I could stay home all the time. We would go visit our aunts in Ky in the summers. That was fun to go up there and be in a different place for awhile. Aunt Johnnie would come down and get us. Grandma, Amy, myself and Pug. Pug and I would get car sick. Amy thought this was funny. Her and our cousin made up a song after Aunt Johnnie said, " over the hill to Thompkinsville and you can take your pill." This only made me sicker. They would just laugh and laugh. I'd give anything now to hear that laugh again. I have the same laugh but I don't laugh much these days. Anyway, as we got older life with Grandma wasn't a cake walk. Poor Grandma! She didn't drive so we had to have people take us everywhere. To this day I hate waiting on people. I'm never late and if I say I'll be there I'm there! Amy wasn't like this. She was late ALL the time. If we where getting together for a family dinner and it started at 2pm. We would tell her it was starting at 12 just so she'd be on time.

When Amy was 14 and I was 12 Grandma got us a car. I know thats crazy. But we finally didn't have to wait an anyone! We could just go. Boy, did we GO! It was a light blue 4 door Plymouth K car (spelling?). We had so much fun. No drivers license but we went everywhere. The summer we just stayed at Shannon Williams' house with Ryan and Jason Meadows. Gosh, Amy and I loved them. They were so much fun. We stayed in trouble too. I hope they remember that summer. I don't see how they couldn't! We rode 4 wheelers all over that farm. Drove that car everywhere too. This was about the time Grandma started seeing the old coot, Jim. I believe this was when the Alzheimers started with her too. She was never the same. Ofcourse we had never even heard of alzheimers at this piont. But there was a change in her.

We also had a friend that lived just down the road from us, Jimmy Bean. He didn't have any brothers or sisters so we were his sisters. He would be at the house when Amy and I would be fighting and he'd get right in there with us. Get mad, jump in his car, drive off throwing gravel. We would try to call him and apologize. He wouldn't answer. But he always came back. Thats love people! He has been the best kind of friend. He was so good to Amy. She knew no matter what he would be there for her. She loved him as much as he loves her. After she died we said we wished she could have seen herself as others did. Maybe now she does.

People loved my sister and she loved them. Thats just how she was.