......a long time ago........

My sister came to visit today.............we sat..........and we drank coffee...........and we ate......and we talked.

We got on ok as kids........the teenage years were a bit fraught.......and then I left home at 18.......and the dynamic changed...........we drifted apart......we attended family get togethers.....Christmas......weddings.....christenings.....birthdays.......and for a long time we essentially lived separate lives.

But over the last decade the dynamic changed again............Mum died......my sister fought a battle with cancer and survived....aunts died.
......and then 2015 came......Dad died.............and then Helen........and this year the S & H got married.

So today we talked........really talked......about our childhood............how we viewed our parents and how they reacted to us differently........why we drifted apart........what we have been through in recent times......what we hope is in the future for us..........

The purpose of the visit was for me to give my sis Mum and Dad's wedding album........we're both still too stubborn to admit that we actually wanted to see each other.............and in the box with it were lots of other photos that I've been avoiding. So we looked at them.........lots of pics of our parents grandchildren (the S & H, the Daughter and the Niece [my sister's daughter])..........family groups............but amongst them were these two..........
the blip is from about 1986..the big hair, the dungarees, the shoulder pads, the knee length boots.....
the extra photo is from about 1980, just before or just after we were married.

One thing came to my mind when I saw these two photos.........I was certainly punching above my weight when I persuaded Helen to become my life partner and soul mate..

Thanks for today, Sue.

Das vidanya moy padruga.