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Happy Birthday, Billie!

Kathy Werner
Posted 11/4/22

My sister Billie is celebrating a birthday on Saturday.  I won’t tell you how old she is—I mean how young she is—but her birthday just happens to be the same day that Marty …

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Happy Birthday, Billie!

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My sister Billie is celebrating a birthday on Saturday.  I won’t tell you how old she is—I mean how young she is—but her birthday just happens to be the same day that Marty McFly went back to in Back to the Future.  There’s your trivia quiz of the day! 

Billie is one of the most loving and beautiful people you would ever want to meet.  Her heart is as big as the ocean, and she is the most caring wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt in the world. 

I don’t want to give the impression that she is 100% sappy—the kind of mom you’d find on the Hallmark Channel.  Oh, no. Billie has a sly sense of humor and talents she acquired as the middle child in a family with five kids. 

The tales of Billie growing up are the stuff of family legend.  She had well-honed survival skills, which in retrospect, no one could begrudge her.  One of our sisterly chores was to wash the dishes after dinner every night.  Our cousins from next door could be outside on our lawn already starting the game of wiffle ball, but we still had to finish the dishes first. 

Unfortunately, Billie was a victim of Pavlov’s classical conditioning, for which I suppose we must blame my mother and her toilet-training ways.  As soon as one of us would start running the water to rinse the dishes, Billie would feel the need to retire to the powder room.  She would usually return to the kitchen just in time to see us drying the pots and pans.  But she would never miss the wiffle ball game, luckily.   

Billie was a thinker, a planner, and some might say, a schemer.  There were four of us girls sharing a bedroom and it wasn’t unheard-of for us to share our clothes.  But Billie took it just a little bit further.  She would take her sweet time getting ready for school, and while the rest of us were at the bus stop, she would come running out as soon as the bus pulled up…wearing my new dress.  Oops! Too late to go change.  I’d seethe all the way to school, but Billie had won the day. 

My favorite Billie “borrowing” story happened one graduation night.  There were parties in houses up and down the road, and we all were making the rounds.  Imagine my shock when I arrived at Ralph’s house and saw Billie wearing my special quilted skirt that was a recent gift from a boyfriend.  Not only was she wearing it, but she was sitting on the ground in it.  I saw red. No catfight ensued, but I quickly went home, called Ralph’s house, asked to speak to my sister, and demanded she come home and change.  As you might imagine, this entreaty fell on deaf ears. 

Oh, dear Billie, all is forgiven, and you are welcome to any dress in my closet you wish to have. We can call it your birthday present!  I love you and your big heart and your rascally ways. 

Happy Birthday from your Big Sis! 

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