"A sister is both your mirror--and your opposite" (--Elizabeth Fishel)

I was cleaning out files last night and stumbled on this old family photo,  sitting loose in a box.  

I have to admit, I'm posting this one thinking of Claudia:   when I visited her last week, she pulled out a few old photo albums, and we spent the good part of one evening reminiscing over photos of her kids when they were tiny.    It was fun laughing at some of the moments we remembered clearly, and as usual, it was just amazing to realize how much they've grown.  

This one of my two sisters and me perfectly describes the difference in our ages:  Mary Kate is the oldest, I'm the middle child, and Claudia is the youngest.  As Joe would say, we're "stair-stepped" here.  Of course, this photo was taken before Eddie was even a glimmer, so he's missing from the mix.  

I'm not sure who took the photo, but whoever it was chopped off a bit of Mary Kate's head!  My mother was  notorious for doing that, but my father was normally the photographer documenting us on film.   I think you can tell a lot from body language in photos, and this is definitely how I remember us as kids together.

The three of us were pretty much inseparable.  It's sad that we don't see each other that often these days, but even though this was a looooong time ago, when I look at this, it seems like just yesterday...

Doesn't Claudia just look like a little ragamuffin?    She has such a mischievous look on her face.  Truth be told, that's kind of exactly how she always is!

Cracks me up.