Sisters

Livvie is a beautiful little blue-eyed blond girl. Her favorite things are dragons and, let's face it, Game Boy. Whenever I ask her about who she played with at recess, she rattles off a list of boys' names. She always says she has girl friends, but they don't play the "good games" at recess. I'm assuming these games are the ones that regularly tear up or grass-stain the knees of her jeans. They play soccer a lot, and my girl says she's a killer goalie.

Maggie, on the other hand, is a very girly girl. She loves dresses that spin out gracefully when she dances. She loves playing with baby dolls and her little kitchen that Toby made for her birthday. She spent the night with my sister a few days ago, and came home in a red t-shirt and matching red stripy pants. Laural had put her hair up in pigtails, with a red ribbon in them, and had painted all Mag's finger-and-toe-nails red. She was very proud of herself. I mean both Laural and Maggie.

When we were growing up, Laural was interested in cheerleading from junior high up. I was in band and quiz bowl. Her favorite toys were Barbie Dolls and Cabbage Patch Kids. Mine: always, always a book, and maybe horse toys. She spent (and still spends) a lot of time and effort to make herself look good. I'm doing better at wearing makeup consistently, but some days, I forget to wash it off and have that cheeky goth smudged mascara look, because I don't look at my face in the mirror all the next day.

We got along pretty well, except for when a certain childhood friend of mine was around. I've selfishly enjoyed her living with Mom and Dad again, because we can hang out a couple times a week. Last night, Laural and I and Mom and cousins Shannon and Trisha met for dinner in Joplin and had a really good time. I'm looking forward to when my kids realize that they grew up with their best friends in the same house.