It's now been four years since my older sister Chelley was taken from us. It's odd, losing a sister, as those of you who've also lost close family members can attest.  They say time heals all wounds, and while time does make it better... I don't think the wound is yet healed.  As my brother-in-law once said, regarding the death of his Father.  "It doesn't get better... it just gets different".

Chelley died from AML (Acute Myloid Leukemia) at the ripe old age of 53.  She'd battled the disease valiantly, but in the end, she ended up right where she didn't want.  In a sterile hospital room, dealing with "needles". (she hated hospitals, and she hated needles). At least she was surrounded by as much family as would fit in that little hospital room.

I don't think of her every day.  In fact there are entire weeks, where she doesn't cross my mind.  And then, suddenly and without warning, someone will say something "Chelley-esque", or I'll hear a song of her genre (ala Lesley Gore's "Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows", and memories of Chelley will come flooding back.

(I know, Lesley Gore was kinda geeky, but her songs were catchy... go figure )

Rochelle Rose
1952-2005

Chelley had that kind of infectious laughter, that once she started giggling, it made those around her laugh too.  And Chelley would giggle at the drop of a hat.  Especially at stupid jokes.

She used to tell this one joke... okay, it was funny ONCE.  But Chelley laughed at it every time, and primarily because it ended with a "bad" word.

So if she tried to tell the joke (with the bad word in it) she'd start laughing at the beginning... 'cause she knew what was coming... and by the time she was firmly in the middle of the telling... she was laughing so hard that she was crying... and everyone was laughing with her.

We rarely made it to the "bad" word, but the entire family knew that joke by heart... and would often request that she "attempt" to tell it, just to watch her dissolve into laughter.

I miss that.

In the end, the disease had inured her to "bad words", and she had become able to even "flip me a bird" with those fancy manicured nails of hers (she liked her manicures to include racing stripes, and attached gemstones)... which was funny, in and of itself.  The girl who couldn't say the "bad" word, could "flip me a bird"...

so, there was a turtle, a lizard and a rabbit.