Big Sister Shows Little Sister What She Can Do!


We were supposed to be taking a nap on mom & dad's bed. Neither of us could really fall asleep. Mom had left her cigarette lighter on the night stand. Barbara reached for it first and tried to open it and make it work. I took it from her and showed her I knew how to work it. When I lit it she shrank back in fear. This was an unexpected reaction so I pushed it toward her to get her to repeat her reaction. That's when her hair caught on fire.

The sad thing is, now as a mother I can look back and figure out what happened, but for the longest time the story my mom told me and any and all who would listen to her that I was so jealous of Barbara's curly hair that I tried to burn it off.

Silly mommy. I see now that she didn't want to accept responsibility for her responsibility in this error.

This picture is of Bobby, Barbara and me. It was taken Easter Sunday, April 6, 1958 so Barbara would have been 2 years old-and as you can see, her curly hair grew back just fine and is still quite curly.

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