Happy Birthday Traci

Today is May 1st. Hmmmmm there is absolutely nothing more important today(not even TAKS) than my sister's birthday!!!! (Well, I did go to the zoo with Kauy). When Traci was born, I had strong emotions about the invasion of "my world according to Trina". I do not remember, but have been told that at one point I asked my precious great-grandmother to flush her down the toilet. Yep....That toilet took things down and they NEVER came back. I also have been told that Traci had a fever once(once..ha..she was the queen of tonsillitis) and I was asked how high her fever was. My response: "about that high, and gave a measurement with my tiny fingers. I learned very early on that Traci was going to be the "spunkier" one of us in some ways. Vacation time was meant for her. She was always small enough to climb into the back of the truck and drag out the cooking supplies when we camped. She was also small enough to put them back in. I supervised. I discovered somewhere around the age (my age) of 11 that Traci had an aversion to the feel of raw chicken. Just for grins....I would chase her with the whole raw chicken just before putting it in the pot to cook. She soon began to develop some very strong personality traits. She was a "in charge" kind of person. Fine with me....pumping gas on vacation would mess up my nails. She also quickly became the "I'll get you back when you least expect it" kind of sister. Like the time I was eating one of her fruity powder (kind of like pixie sticks). She had put the strawberry container with the bubble bath powder in the same spot as her candy. I "hated" getting my mouth washed out with soap! Especially when I hadn't said the wrong word. We both played the piano, marched in the band, played 42, and worked through 4-H together. At one point, our eye doctor called to tell my mom that "the twins" contacts had come in. He wasn't far from the truth. The major difference...she made National Honors Society, and I was just happy to graduate! When we sang with Brandi at the Senior Citizens, we made Traci just play the guitar. No singing. AND, we were both GATA's at ACU. I was in the Big Purple as was she; I was the torch for the Olympic song, and she was the twirler.
By 30, our parents decided that the "twins" were staying sisters(at their house) and no man would come between us. That did change!
Let me bore you a little more here: You see, I was dating a guy (but NOT seriously) and I met this tall handsome cowboy with a beat up old ranch truck. Just what my sister ordered. I called her to tell her I had found her man! She wanted a cowboy since she couldn't have George Strait. In the mean time, a friend decided that I needed to go to this little country church to meet this guy who was the song leader. I had no problem with balding guys; he had a great voice, and was "so nice". So...I went to "worship the Lord" with my friend. Left there giving the blessing that I would go out with him if he wanted to call me. Ha Ha Ha...Long story short...I married the cowboy and Traci married the song leader. She would have hung Kelly and his spurs up on the fence post many times, and I would have sung Tim right out of the house. She married a "me" and I married a "her". (well, something like that).
Today....she is still spunky, a little shorter, and a whole lot smarter. She is the best Aunt you could ever ask for. My kids are sooooo lucky. Makaley shares her middle name (Kauy Lyn would not work for a cowboy!) She still loves me in spite of my pitfalls. She has been through the wringer with me, rescuing me at any hour of the day or night. She is our travel partner when I take the kids out of town for longer than 2 days. She is still my sister but she has become my best friend!
Love you Traci Lyn! Happy Birthday. And I am glad you didn't flush so easily!