HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INKLINGS!

Today is Inklings birthday and since she is my sister I want to blog about my memories about her.

One memory to go with this time of year, is my memory of going Christmas shopping with Inklings. We lived in Omaha, Nebraska and one year Inklings took me downtown to shop. We took the bus down town and I remember being totally amazed at everything we saw. I have no memory of what we bought, but I'm sure we were Christmas shopping because it was really cold. I remember going into the department stores and riding the escalators up and down. I don't remember if we had lunch there or not, but I do remember her taking me into a store to have hot chocolate. She told me they had good hot chocolate and I was amazed that she even knew that. I remember burning the crap out of my mouth on that very hot chocolate, but it was good. She took me around like it was no big deal to her and that she knew where she was going. I think I don't remember a lot of details because I was in such awe during the whole shopping trip - that I was even asked to go, and because I loved seeing everything.
Inklings and I shared a bedroom. If you would like to read about this, see "Who Do You Think You're Foolin?" Post - November 18, 2007.
I remember when we moved to Texas. Inklings wanted to go to some teenage hangout (local burger drive-in) to check out some boy I think, but she didn't want to go alone so asked me to come with her. I think I was about 14 at this time. She threatened me with my life if I told anyone how old I was. I was so amazed that she asked me that I kept my word and didn't tell anyone I was only 14. I only remember sitting at the drive-in and people came up and talked to us. Inklings posted not too long ago about taking me with her to Alice's Restaurant. What I remember about that experience is being scared to death. :0+ Everything just seemed too weird to me. If you want to read about this see Inkling's post, "If you can't keep your skeleton in the closet, you'd best teach it to dance" - November 23, 2008. She called it Charlie's Restaurant, I knew it as Alice's Restaurant. I remember it because of the song Alice. "Go ask Alice, when she's 10 feet tall..." I remember I went there with some of my friends once some years later. That was enough. It was still a very weird place.
I remember going with Inklings to get a new puppy, which we named "29" because she was born on the 29th of February. I remember Inklings carrying her home in her pocket because she was so small.
One time Inklings painted some pictures for an art class in the style of Pablo Picasso. I thought they were the coolest paintings I had ever seen. Inklings also introduced me to The Black Stallion series. They were some of my favorite books. I was so amazed that she actually wrote to Walter Farley and he ANSWERED her! More than once!
I was terribly shy when I was growing up and didn't even try to grow out of it until a teenager. I always relied on Inklings because she always seemed to be so much older, wiser, cooler, prettier, and smarter than me.
Here are some more words that describe her: artistic, caring, compassionate, beautiful, steadfast, enduring, strong, spiritual, funny, sarcastic, nutty, devoted, kind, loving, sweet, tough, true, wonderful, witty, young-at-heart, writer, poet, artist, crafter, great cook, grandma, mother, daughter, sister, friend.