Me: "Carlin, how are you?"
Her: "We're fine - and you?"

She is now plural - there is no more I in her life of motherhood. She's still the independent brassy gal I adore - almost done with the PHD program at UPENN - 2 beautiful kids and a husband. It's hard not living close to you and seeing your kids and hubby. On days like today I can't help but think, I want to talk to my older sister. I want her to grab my hand and jump into a time machine. Can we have a snow day today? Even though it's April, I want a snow day. Or I want to be sent home because the snow is piling up outside.
Remember how we would leap off the bus careful not to drop our precious art project that was worth a hundred million dollars? Once inside we would rush to see who could get dressed in their snow outfits first. You’d put on those fluffy pink earmuffs Mom bought at Woolworths. Hurry - we only have 3 more hours of daylight. After an hour outside Mom would call us in to eat grilled cheese triangles and tomato soup. You'd laugh at me as my soup would spill down the front of my turtleneck. Hurry you'd say, we need to finish our fort. We'd dash back outside with our straps flailing behind to find our brothers had come home and once again were playing king of the snow fort. They killed our masterpiece. A fun filled snow ball fight would soon ensue which neighborhood kids always flocked to. They came to US. It was one of the many joys of being a member of a large family. I always had friends around. I miss those friends terribly on days like this.

crazy straws in chocolate milk, blowing bubbles in your milk, grilled cheese triangles dipped into tomato soup. Card games. Jacks. Watching The Goonies. Smocks and easels with finger painting. Snack time. Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club, He-Man, Thunder Cats, Sesame Street, Piglet, Snorkels, making pottery in art class, recess, behaving during the length of the school day so your teacher would allow you to have an extra 15 minutes at recess, Fraggle Rock, Kids Incorporated, Mr. Rogers always freaked us out, Capatin Kangaroo, we thought Kirk Cameron was heart throb, Rick Schroder will always be Ricky, Lost Boys, The Coreys', Dangly earings, Charm Bracelets, Chucks a.k.a Converse, cinch cuffed jeans, bangs.

Would you actually use a time machine?