Retrospective

Retrospective...by Jennifer Zartman Romano 

I can’t remember much further back than about the age of two. I remember my second birthday for sure. I recall the people gathered for my party and that I was sitting on an overstuffed orange cushion on the floor in the living room of my parent’s large brick home. I remember sitting there and thinking there were…coneheads…at my birthday. Do you remember coneheads from Saturday Night Live? Well, I think I was probably confused. They were probably people with pointed birthday hats on their heads…not actually coneheads. But that stands out. As does the memory of my birthday cake – with two more “coneheads” on there. I remember one of the coneheads carried me into the kitchen, put me in my highchair where I looked at my cake inquisitively. No, actually they were little clowns with pointy hats on their heads on the top of that cake.  

I don’t remember being the only child in my family, although I had precisely 18 months to be the center of attention. So, by the time I turned two, baby Sarah was already six months-old.

I do remember having a “baby sisser” from very early on. A quiet, red curly-haired sister who usually wore purple and I usually wore pink. Where I went, she went. She was a bit littler and much more shy than I was, so I spoke for her often. I decided she wanted heart-shaped earrings at the mall one day when I was six. I put her in the chair, told the woman at the counter what she wanted and it was done. It couldn’t have been that simple, but I think it actually was.

We played together, fought occasionally, shared a room, shared toys, alternately competed against each other and acted as allies. Growing up together in what seemed like the middle of our own little universe was so much more fun with two than it would have been with one. Though being close in age was a challenge for us during the turbulent adolescent years, we are now the best of friends and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

So, my heart skips a little this week…knowing for certain…with the obstetrician’s detection of a tiny heartbeat – my dear niece and Goddaughter, Eleanor Rose, will be the big sister and will, in precisely six months, have a baby sisser…or brother…of her own. She, too, will grow up with a sibling just a wee bit younger than she is who will be her best friend and confidante.

Nervous about the proximity of her children’s ages, my sister looked worried when she told me the blessed news nearly a month ago now (which was VERY hard to keep quiet). Would Eleanor be slighted not being the only child for very long? Would she be cheated by not having long as the only apple of her parents’ eyes? Certainly not, I told her. “I loved you immediately,” I said, as I showed her the photograph above -- as I kissed my tiny, newborn baby sisser’s head. My parents really couldn’t have given me a better gift than my own baby sister who would grow up to be my best friend.