'Memories: Rachel’

'R.I.P'

I have some fond memories of my sister Rachel who passed away on December 13, 2012. It's a day that will forever live with me because December 13 happens to be my birthday and Connie's and my wedding anniversary. So now it will also be the anniversary of Rachel's death. I will write my memories of Rachel as I remember them, so in bits and pieces, I'll be going back and forth in time.

The first memory that comes to mind, Rachel was about 15, me about 13. At that time, we were living in El Hoyo Simons Brickyard. The houses in El Hoyo were no more than wooden shacks. 

Our wooden shack had two good-sized bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen with a wood-burning stove in it. One bedroom was used by Mom and Pop. My brother Mando, a baby at the time, slept with them.

The second bedroom I shared with 4 sisters, including Rachel. I had a small bed in one corner of the bedroom. The four girls shared a big bed across from me.

As a young teenager, Rachel had taken to chewing gum; she didn't just chew it, she would pop and crack the gum real loud, and that used to bug the crap out of me (it still does).

After the lights were turned off for the night, Rachel would lay in bed popping and crackin' her gum as she chewed like Elsie, The Cow, which bugged me to no end. I would nicely ask her to stop, she wouldn't. So I would ask her a few more times in a friendly way, and when that didn't work, I would then ask her in a not-so-friendly way but to no avail. This would end by me reaching under my bed and grabbing one of my shoes and throwin' it at her; she would just catch it in mid-flight and throw it right back at me without missing one beat of her gum popping. Finally, I would have to get under the blankets with my pillow over my head to get some sleep.