Except for play or work, we girls always wore dresses. In school we could wear slacks only on a few rare occasions. I remember my ninth grade algebra teacher, Miss Hanson, getting so upset about girls wearing slacks on a football game day that she slammed doors and stomped around (we thought she should have been more upset about the gray roots she always had!).

Until our two younger sisters were born, Mom made many of Elaine’s and my dresses. For birthday or Christmas gifts, though, sometimes we’d get a store-bought dress — practicality usually trumped fancy.

On this particular birthday, however, Elaine received the unexpected privilege of choosing any dress she wanted out of the Sears, Roebuck Catalog; and this pleated turquoise number with gold embossing was the one she picked.

See how it shines!!!

I was so jealous. And, of course, after that I always believed that they loved her more than me.

As adults, now we often talk candidly about “those” days and how we perceived things as children and how we were each affected by those perceptions. Raised in the same house, yet we are so different.

That dress rarely fails to be mentioned. We laugh. It’s all good. I love my sister, and she loves me. And what greater joy can there possibly be.

So then let us definitely aim for and eagerly pursue what makes for harmony and mutual upbuilding of one another. Romans 14:19