Our Family Welcomes are Red

OUR FAMILY WELCOMES ARE RED ( A LEGACY STORY)

A brother and sister were born and passed at birth before I was born. The sister that greeted me when I came into this world was mad as hell about it. She wanted a brother and nothing was going to make her happy except them returning me and getting her a brother.

I don't know what it is about the color red in our family, but it seems to be associated with a "negative welcome". When I was only two months old my sister took my mothers bright fire engine red nail polish and crawled up by my bassinet and poured it into my eyes. Her only responses to my mother's uncontrolled panic was "take her back", "I want a brother".Things never really improved from there.

She and I had a little reminisence about the incident when I related to her my grandson's reaction to his sister. He had wanted a brother and was very disappointed when one didn't arrive and worse yet was the fact there was now a girl. At the ripe old age of almost three, he fretted and fumed and at one point when he and his mom were in the front yard playing while the baby slept in her stroller . His mom had to admonish him for playing too near the road. She reminded him of that big red sports car that daily roared by in front of their house and that if he wasn't careful it would hit him and he'd go splat.

Famous for his twinkling eyes he sidled up against his mom and seriously and quietly said, "Let's put the stroller in the middle of the street and the red car will splat her" indicating his sleeping sibling. He finished with a wonderful look of conspiracy and pride.

Astonished at the family "angel" my sister and I often laughed and laughed for reasons not totally clear to others. While my grandson today finds this story hard to believe since he and his sister are pretty much best friends, it was true. My sister and I however, continued to have an "edgy" friendship most of our adult lives. It played out in many ways, but the color red often brought up the memory.

What might begin as a potential negative legacy, with time and bonding, can become a legacy that is literally "thicker than blood", and afterall, isn't blood red too?