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, 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 me 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 was either working or at school.
(I was looking for photos of me and Page back then,
but they are all packed away.)
(My sisters in 2005)
Those were really wonderful memories for me.
I was partly raised by wonderful sisters who were mentors too.
I think Lottie will have the same feelings with
her amazing big sisters, Claire and Jane.
