Fifty years seems like forever
Fifty years gone in a flash
My sister five, when I was seven
I live on while she’s in Heaven

42 years of pain unfathomed
20 years of life and freedom
mom died 20 years ago,
mother, I did hate you so.

1973…2003….
And now it’s 2023
Sister….Mother….now just me
The women of my family

My sister, Melanie, was a tiny little girl. We were very close. There are no pictures of her on my wall, but I can still see her pale blue eyes and fluffy blond hair in my mind’s eye when I think of her. I often wonder what she would have been like had she lived more than five years. I often ‘see’ her in other people, thinking ‘she would be just like that’. I miss not having had her in my life these past 50 years.

My mother, was a horrible person. A sociopath. There are no pictures of her on my wall, and every April 30th I celebrate the day she died. This year marks my 20th celebration.

February 5th marks the 50th anniversary of Melanie’s passing. My belief tells me she was granted another life when she left us in 1973. My hope is that it was a much better, happier one than the brief one she spent with us. I know we will meet someday, and I look forward to seeing her bright, shining, innocence once again.

My sister died in 1973 and my mother died thirty years later, at age 73. Coincidence? Or a reminder of the life she stole from her daughter.  We need to remember those who have been in our lives just as we must remember those still with us, because they were and are part of us, and form who we are today.

Fifty years seems like forever.
Fifty years gone in a flash.