Remembering Say #3 (Up, Table)

 

Another story where my sister decided to scare me (and a few siblings)... I swear this won't be a theme.

I couldn't tell you how old I was, but I know where Say and her family were living at the time, so that helps me place it. She was married to (or about to marry) her 2nd husband, and I'm positive this was before Say and family moved to Oregon. So that's how old I was. Which tells you nothing. Maybe 10 or so, at a guess.

Anyway, I couldn't tell you the other adults involved. I want to say Mom and maybe an aunt. Lois, maybe? Or maybe it was two other people entirely.

All I know is a couple/few of my siblings and I were over at their house, and the three adults decided to play "Up, Table" (and if you don't know, that's like a seance thing where the table "somehow" tips up and will bang once for "Yes" and twice for "No" as the spirits answer questions).

So they put their hands on the edge at one side of the card table and started chanting, "Up, table..." over and over. Of course the table tilted--not due to any pressure applied by the adults, of course.

They started asking questions, establishing it was a spirit talking to them. Then they started asking if something bad was going to happen to each of us kids. Of course, "Yes," every time. We were all screaming and carrying on, but honestly more in a "fun" way than not.

It's an odd memory to share, I know, as there's not a lot to it. But it's one that has popped up repeatedly in the month ago since Say passed away, so I wanted to share.

Love you, Say! (Up, table.. up, table... up, table... up, table...)

Remembering Say #2 (Help Me, Mark...)

Today I'll share the fact I have very few (if any) memories of my sister living with us.

That's a memory, right?

She was over 15 1/2 when I was born. When I was almost 18 months old, my younger brother was born. I don't know if Mom was in the hospital an extra amount of time or what, but Say looked after me a lot when I was little, and possibly even more while Mom was off getting my younger brother from the stork.

I'm not sure, but I have always imagined the "Where Say go?" incident took place the day mom returned from the hospital. Like I said, that could just be my brain deciding things.

I know we spent a lot of time together, at any rate.

I have been sloshing through the deep recesses of my memory, and the only memory I can salvage that I think was possibly while she was living at home was the time it was just us at the house and I heard her faintly calling out, "Mark, help me..."

I remember going into the bedroom I thought her voice was coming from, but she wasn't there. I remember my distress rising as I went around the house, with her still calling out in a quiet and high-pitched voice, "Mark, help me..."

I eventually went back into the bedroom I first investigated, and finally realized she had opened the door to that room and the door to the closet in that room (they met if you opened them at the same time/rate) and was hiding behind them playing a trick on me.

I remember being happy I found her and she was okay. I sorta understood she was playing with me... but part of me wasn't well pleased about the whole deal.

Anyway, it's possible this was after she was married, maybe after she had her first daughter, Leslie. But it could have just as easily been while she was living at home with us still.

Add to the things to wish I'd asked her while she was still here: Remember that? When was that?

Love you, Say... even though that was a mean trick to pull on me! 

Remembering Say #1

My sister's birthday is today. She passed away on the 30th of last month, so she didn't quite finish her 72nd trip around the sun. She went by Lynne (her middle name) for the last several decades. She became Say to me when I was a toddler and couldn't say her nickname from her youth (Rusty).

I decided shortly after she passed to start sharing memories on her birthday. Maybe one for each trip around the sun (including the partial = 72), or maybe until I reach the number of the day of her birth (28). I still haven't decided. Maybe I'll go until I realize I've run out of memories.

The first memory is from 36 or 37 (possibly 35) years ago today.

I was home from college for the summer. Or I was home for the weekend while living in Liberty during the summer in college. Either way, she'd come over to the house and when she saw me she asked if I was going to wish her a happy birthday.

"It's not your birthday," I said, a bit indignantly.

She returned my indignant tone with interest, assuring me it was her birthday.

I replied that nobody in our family has a birthday in June... well, the immediate family, anyway.

And as I was thinking through my siblings and my birthdays... two in January, one in April, one in May, one in July, one in August, one in September... 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7. I was short one.

How did I not know her birthday? She was like a second mother to me, being about 15 1/2 years my senior.

So that was the day I cemented her birthday in my brain. She would have been in her mid-thirties, which is so odd to me, having passed those by a couple of decades ago myself.

Anyway, not a huge memory, but an appropriate one for today.

Love you and miss you, Say.