Remembering Say #5 (Heartbreak!)

Left to right: Me, my brother Wade (walking away), and Say (looking thoughtful).

This is more of a Say-related memory. She plays a part, but isn't featured in the memory so much.

And no, this is not the longer story I want to share. (And I should stop referring to it as longer, etc., as it will probably end up being short and folks will wonder what the heck I meant by "longer" there.)

So my sister, her second husband, and her three daughters moved to Oregon sometime when I was around 10 or so. I mentioned this in an earlier memory, I think. I could ask around and get the year right, but it's not important. I was a kid. That's the bit you need to know.

I cannot describe to you how heartbroken I was by this. It was going to be the first time in my life my sister was going to be unavailable to me. And my three nieces were going to be gone, too. It was awful. I remember very well how terrible it felt. It may not have been my first disappointment, but as far as gut-wrenching heartbreak, I'm pretty sure it was the first.

This is when I learned Mom--who was usually great with kids--was not great with a kid going through emotional turmoil. I remember trying to sleep that first night when they had left. It felt a sadness so huge I thought it would envelop me, the world... heck, possibly the known universe, had I known about it.

I got out of bed and went to talk to Mom who was reading in bed. I tried to tell her how sad I was. I don't know if it was because she was dealing with her own feelings (I suspect more about her granddaughters than her daughter, if so) or what, but she gave me some off-the-cuff response and told me to go back to bed.

I don't know how many years they lived in Oregon, and I'm not sure the exact order of events. I think they moved to Iowa next, but I may have that wrong. All I know is Iowa is the setting of the story I've been wanting to share for a few days now. It's one of my favorites.

So I hope that gives you a bit of a better picture as to how important my older sister was to me when I was young. Words like "heartbroken" and "devastated" don't seem to cover how I felt. That is what my sister meant to me.

Love you, Say!