Bonny Rae

 On October 1, 1969 I finally had a sister.  There are 7 years between us but that didn't stop us from having fun together and playing the same things.  Of course, this little sister wasn't really able to play for a few years.  

She had so little hair when she was born and for more than a year later that often strangers thought she was a boy.  I was very offended by this considering I already had 3 brothers and this was my only sister.  

 We shared a bedroom for a few years but I couldn't stand how messy she was and she got her own room.  I do recall dancing the polka in my room and pretending to ice skate.  We watched the Olympics and got the bug.  We had a sparkly dress-up dress and used a flashlight to shine on one another as we "skated" and twirled around my bedroom in the dark.

We spent hours upon hours playing with the "little people" and barbies in my room.  We played together until I was at least 16.  I recall not wanting to be caught playing with those things and shoving them under the bed if someone came up the stairs.

 This woman graduated valedictorian of her class.  She went off to BYU for a year before coming back to Wisconsin and going to school in Green Bay for a year.  Then she decided it was time to serve the Lord as a missionary where she met a man that would change her life in ways that no one ever conceived of.

When she came home she went off and got married and had two sons.  Things did not work out as she intended and she came back home in 2014.  Things have changed so much.  A horrible man kept her isolated which limited her in having friends and being with other people.  An awful disease known as multiple sclerosis has robbed her of her ability to function physically as she would like.

With all of that, I cleaned out her apartment and set up her room and moved her into an assisted living home on her 49th birthday.  When I look at her she is a shell of the person I grew up with.  I know she was just a little girl then, but circumstances have robbed her of the simple joys that she should have.  Instead she is forced into a life that none of us ever expected.  Least of all her.

One thing is for certain.  She is home with her family.