Tomorrow is Debbie's birthday. She is my brothers first born and I remember so vividly the day they brought her home from the hospital. I thought she was the prettiest baby I had ever seen. I was twelve years old at the time and thought, now I had a real live baby doll to play with. And we did. Play that is. By the time I was married she was a teenager and I did not have my daughter yet so Debbie was still my baby doll. I use to take her shopping for clothes and one summer I took her for her first trip to the beach. When she came home her hair was several shades lighter. We told her parents it was from the sun but it was from a peroxide bottle. I have never seen the true color of her hair since. I won't divulge Debbie's age but I am twelve years older than she and I am sixty eight so you figure it out. Through the years she has taught me a lot. She is one of the most crafty people that I know. When my daughter was pregnant with my granddaughter Debbie smocked her baptistmal dress. It is an heirloom and it came so easy for her. I ask her to teach me to smock and she did but my dresses never looked like hers. I hope that I have taught her some lessons of life....I have tried to do that by example. I know that she is one of the strongest women I have ever met and I hope some of that came from me. We have both had our ups and downs just as everyone else does living this life but our motto is " You can go to bed and cover your head but we might be missing something" So when I had the dream to start this business it was only natural that the person I thought of to jump into it with me was Debbie. I could not do it without her. She stays on task until it is done. I tend to wander, dreaming of the next thing I want to create. We are so very much alike but the rolls have changed a bit. It is almost like she has become the eldest telling me that I need to just stay on track and complete the task. She will say "Evelyn (she has never called me aunt Evelyn as the other niece's and nephews have) you have got to calm down and not go off on something else until we have this done". Somehow I always comply if only for a short while. Tonight we talked about her birthday and me being 12 years older. She said" we have to hurry and make it in this business we don't have much time left". I said...... We Will.

So I say, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY " to my Neice, my Partner, my Friend.

Aunt Evelyn