First posted 2010
My brother, David, and his wife, Rose, were in England when their first daughter was born. She was born outside London where David was stationed at Chicksands Airforce Base. We were so excited. I was a junior in high school and David and Rose were missed beyond words.
So, when Lisa was born so far away and we couldn’t hold her or get acquainted with her right away, David and Rose made sure that we had all we needed to fill the gap until they could come home.
Lisa was almost three when they did get back to introduce her to the family. The first time I met her was at my Grandmother White’s house. We’d all gotten together so that we could welcome David, Rose and Lisa home. She was adorable, and already had long hair. In my mind’s eye, she looked a lot like her daughter, Samantha, looks today.
I’ll never forget seeing her and thinking, “What must she think of all of us????” She was shy and a little scared, I think, staying close to her mom and dad. I’d talk to her and try to get her to come to me. Once, I held my breath because she started towards me so that I could pick her up, but at the last minute, she turned and ran back to Rose. She looked at me for a long time, with an expression that was a mixture of bravado (“I dare you to come over here and try to pick me up!”) and curiosity (“Well, you look like somebody I might like and want to know, but we’ll see…”). Finally, she’d had enough of all of us and crawled up in Rose’s lap and went to sleep.
As I said: She was adorable!
When we did become friends, and she had learned to talk better, she called me Burry for a long time before she learned to talk a little better until it became Burbaly. How cute is that!
Here’s the letter announcing Lisa’s arrival. Today, it’d be easy to pick up the phone and call New Georgia from London. In those days, it was not done. Very expensive for the crackly conversation that may or may not leave you understanding each other.
