Meet Virginia

Ginny is coming to see me!  (Full name Virginia Wyman Lawton Wood, or Mrs. Charles Edward Wood V).  To me, she’s just Gin.

She’s bringing her husband and all those kids they have, but I am mainly excited to see my Gin.

It wasn’t always this way.  Baby sisters can be a little annoying during those first 25 (or 30) years. 

There was fighting.  Physical fighting.  Gin could make her arms turn in a pinwheel formation and leave bruises.  I was not above throwing things at her.  The last time was about 5 years ago.  I threw her suitcase at her.  It was entirely justified.  I was MAD.  (Because she was ready to go home to NC and I wasn’t ready for her to leave).

Gin made up rhymes to tell me things, like that it was time for supper:

            Ashby.  Clap Clap.

            It’s time.  Clap Clap Clap.

            For supper.  Snap.

She was always in my stuff.  And she was tiny, so she could scoot places and sneak up on you. 

There was always so much CONVERSATION.  Gin has energy, and she has lots to say.  But she’s a listener too.  So much so that when it is my turn to talk, it is perfectly ok for me to say “I have two things to tell you, so be quiet a minute.”

She’s one of the few people brave enough to tell me when I’m wrong.  Gin knows if I ask her “Am I wrong?” I really want to know the answer.

She makes me laugh.  We laugh about life.  We laugh at our husbands.  We talk about babyshit.  We talk about middleschoolgirlshit.  She has always made me laugh:



I had something to do with this because I recognize my hands.



Gin’s a grown woman now.  But she still needs my protection.  And I’ve always wanted to protect her.

I helped her fix her bangs into a perfect flower.

I taught her the 9^th grade cheerleading tryout dance before tryouts (she had to pretend that she did not know it already).

I made her do our High School pageant together.  I was a senior and she was a freshman.  We sang a duet for our talent – The Rose.  We held fake red roses.  Before our talent performance, I told Gin she better hug me when it is over and act like she loves me.

She did.

Now we talk several times a day.  The time Peggy used to beg for  - it’s here.  Peggy used to cry and say “Y’all please quit fighting!  Y’all are supposed to be BEST FRIENDS.  When y’all get old you are going to need each other!!”

God, she could be so annoying.

Now we say I Love You every day.  And no one makes us say it either.

My gorgeous sister and her first girlbaby:  Frances Ashby Wood