I love my sister

I was told today that if The Old Man tells the "Spaghetti Story" one more time he is going to get bitch slapped.
I can't wait.
It's inevitable that he will tell this story within the next few get-togethers.
I have your back sister.
I am pretty sure that I can take The Old Man at this point. My strength and anger at the world Vs. his have, I believe, reached the tipping point.
Truly, I am stronger and more pissed off than he is at this point.

It got me thinking about the stories he tells and the ones I tell...
ok, yes he never posted stories about me defiling breakfast foods to the entire world....but when The Old Man starts talking people usually tune in because he can "spin a yarn" as they say...

and I do believe I have a long time to go at this blogging thing before I have spilled more beans than he has.
Really, I think I have 3 readers max, how much damage could I do?

so I was trying to think of a story I prefer The Old Man NOT repeat about me....
I'm at a loss...generally I come off as a sort of violent quick witted Tom Sawyer....and I'm cool with that.
My sister is not so fortunate. I already spilled her beans about the unfortunate nickname....I will not further compound my crimes..
And my brother? he usually comes off as terribly sensitive and misguided.....
So, I am totally cool with him portraying me as a partially-controlled-psychotic-demi-genius...

I want to tell a story on my sister that features her in the light in which I always saw her.
I always thought that she got treated like the little princess and I only partially begrudged her that. The truth is I always adored my sister and I did my best to protect her but it felt kind of unfair that she could do no wrong and I was sort of treated like a force of nature that they tried their best to contain...but lets not get all Freudian...

We were at the river.

For some bizarre reason my sister didn't learn to swim until much later in life. ( as much as she wants to pretend it's not true, I did in fact save her from drowning more than once)
you have to understand, I swam pretty much before I walked. I swam nearly every day of my life until I was 9 or 10. I was on swim teams from 5 to 17. Pretty much every summer vacation or long weekend involved waterskiing. I got a custom made waterski for my 7th birhtday. (one of the best gifts I have ever gotten BTW) so why did she not get taught how to swim?

anyway

In the Colorado river there are these sandbars that during the day are a place to hang out and dock your boat....in the evening the river rises and they go under water.
We were ferrying people back and forth from the sand bar to the camp and my sister(who,again, can't swim) and a wife of one of my dads friends (who can't swim) are left behind...
It's taking kind of a long time and the woman, who knows neither of them can swim, starts to get a little worried....
coolers are starting to float away, beach chairs, towels soaked.
they are more than ankle deep when the woman expresses concern.
My sister is sanguine, sublime.
"my daddy is coming back"
"what if they forgot us?"
"my Daddy would NEVER forget me."
"why is that?"
"because he has 2 boys...but I'm his only girl"

the Little Princess