If there is one thing that could accurately portray who my sister was at heart, it is her lifelong delight in picking wildflowers wherever she found them and presenting them to those she loved.  The cover photo is of our niece Madison DeFrain doing what my sister loved and gravitated to doing more days than not, discovering and creating beautiful bouquets of wildflowers. That is who she was from her very first years through the next 4 decades. She not only stopped to smell the flowers, she thought about who she could bring them to. Often it was our Mom. Sometimes it was me but really she just delighted in putting together a bouquet from whatever she found, wherever she found it.  

My sister and I were not alike in many ways. I can be Type A to a fault always rushing and shouting and hurrying kids and pets off to wherever we needed to go. My sister could not be rushed to do anything. She took her time, even when school busses honked outside our house, or the time to leave for family events had long since passed. But then she'd arrive to the track meet or the softball game or the family party and she'd bring something wonderful she whipped up, or bags of snacks she packed for everyone, and quite often a bouquet of wild blooms she'd found along the way.  Sometimes she would wander off to pick flowers while my kids were competing in whatever sport she'd come to see (which drove me nuts). But then she'd come back with a big smile and a bouquet of blooms (or one time a bag of wild onions she literally pulled from the mulch at Blue Mt HS track field) and what could I say?

She was uniquely Elizabeth. She could not be rushed, she not only noticed the small things, she made time to stop and pick them and bring them to you so you could slow down for a minute, too. 
As aggravating as it was, I miss it and I miss her.

I am sure you would hate that title. Probably hate the story being told here even more. But you were like 4 so I think its ok now. This is the story of the naked hot wheels escape of 1980.