GROWING UP.....ROSS AND BEING "A ROSS GIRL".

There were five children in our family, four girls and one boy.

The four girl's of our family were known in the area and at school as "The Ross Girls".

After we all left home, we would meet at Mother and Daddy's for a week in the summer and a week at Christmas time.

We didn't call it Sister's week back then, it was just a time when the five of us could be together. There would be long talks around the kitchen table with Mother and Daddy and the sound of high heels clicking on the wood floors once again.

We didn't leave our brother out. He just thought that a week of giggling, hormones and chatter was more than he could take so he drifted in and out during our time at home.

After our children came along, we spent our week at home changing diapers and listening to the tips on raising children from our Mother.

There was no money in our budgets at that time for trips anywhere but home.

Home was where we all wanted to be. It was our safe place.

I have thought about those times a lot and can go backward in my mind to those days. I can see Mother's smile and smell all of the smells of home.

I can see Daddy working in the backyard and coming in to wash his hands and arms at the kitchen sink, much to my Mother's dismay.

I can smell the coffee that was always brewing on the stove, summer or winter.

Home was a good place to be and a good place to renew our bond as sister's and brother.

Eventually, we were able to go on weekly trips to each others homes. It was always fun to get together for a week in a different place.

That's when "The Sister's Trip" was born.

After all of our children grew up, we began to take trips to other places.  It was fun to be together and fun to venture out in the world.

We all looked forward to the trip's and planned our Sister's trip all year.

(Peggy)

A week together as sister's would always bring those times when we would get "sideways" with one another. When that happened we would say what we thought and move on. We gave each other the space that we needed and the freedom to have our different opinions. We grew up knowing that one only gets angry with people that they trust. We trusted one another enough to speak our minds, but always with respect.

Peggy's last Sister's trip was to my house 7 years ago. Alzheimer's disease had already started and we all noticed the difference in her. She had been diganosed with Epilepsy and was having Monoclonic jerks. We all noticed that she had lost her happy nature and seemed confused a lot of the time.

 It was a sad feeling that next year when we went on our first Sister's trip without her because she was not well enough to go.  We missed her so much and the lack of her presence left a gaping hole in our time together.

The trip was to Colorado Ski country. We stayed in a big house that was a ski out. The week was fun but we all missed having Peggy there. That is when we decided that on every Sister's Trip, we would make sure that Peggy was a part of it, if only in a picture.

 

That's was our way of including her in our week and we still make sure that Peggy is on every trip in a picture.

( Peggy added).

This year, our Sister's trip will be to beautiful Santa Barbara, California and you can bet that Peggy will be there. She will be right in the middle of our fun, talks, sightseeing and shopping.

She will go to Santa Barbara on our Sister trip next week because we will all take her... in our hearts.

After all, what would a trip be like without Peggy?

She is present in everything that we do as sister's because of the pride that we share as sister's and because....

We are "The Ross Girl's" and.....

We grew up...Ross!

I Love You Today, Peggy!

Mary Louise