Today I asked Claire to help Lottie with her math while I quizzed Gigs
on geography facts.
Occasionally I would hear Claire say:
"Come on, Lod, you can do this; think, think!"
Then Lottie would say to Claire with a
half-cry, half-laugh,
"I don't know, I don't get it."
Then I remembered myself in 7th grade sitting at Page's
dining room table in her tiny newly married house in downtown Provo
where she'd help me with my algebra homework.
She'd say to me over and over again:
"Come on, Steph, numbers on one side and letters on the other!!
You can do this; just think! Let's go over it again."
(Me and Page, 2006)
It seemed like we'd spend hours on one problem before I'd catch on,
and while I worked, she studied too. She was in nursing school at BYU.
When I'd finish up and before she'd take me home,
I'd play outside with her baby, Layton, and play with her dog,
Scout in the backyard until the sun went down, and it was time to go home.
Sometimes I'd stay to help her make dinner or babysit while she and her
husband were working or at school.
(I was looking for photos of Page and me back then,
but they are all packed away.)
(My sisters in 2005)
Those were wonderful memories for me.
I was partly raised by wonderful sisters who were mentors too.
Lottie will have the same feelings for
her amazing big sisters, Claire and Jane.
