Meet the Man behind Super Pig



Don and his beautiful granddaughter Ellie



Meet Don Canonge Artist Extraordinaire! 

I've known Don for about 20 years now. He worked in the Huntington Beach office and then moved with the office to Florida. Don and his lovely wife Myrle are Wycliffe Members and served in Australia for 16 years before returning to the states and going to work at the Wycliffe headquarters.

Don is the son of missionary parents who served in Oklahoma working among the Comanche Indians.

Don's father also taught linguistics at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Wycliffe Translators take linguistic courses to get the tools they need to do a translation. Don has been a missionary his whole life.



Don getting a ride.



Don works in our Prayer Letter Dept. here at the Orlando headquarters where he turns prayer letters into works of art. All my missionary friends rave about the job he does on their letters. They look like they come from a very high end printing company. The colors, the backgrounds and the arrangement of photos make each letter extremely appealing, something you really want to read.

 Don has also been a artist most of his life and he did all the artwork for my books and the formatting so they are ready to print when they get to the publishers. There would be no Super Pig books without Don, believe me. I don't know the first thing about formatting, I can't even get the pictures to go where I want them to in this stupid blog!

 I had asked another artist if she would be interested in doing my artwork, but when things didn't work out, I was at a loss as to what to do. My friend Penny Livingston said, "Why don't you ask Don?" Now why hadn't I thought of that?




Artwork for my first book The Adventures of Super Pig.
You can see why I was so excited to have him do my artwork.

  I asked him and he said yes. I gave him some input as to what I wanted and a few stories to read so he could get an idea of the characters. With in a few days he had a sketch for me, then a sample of the first story with the artwork. I was beside myself with joy. My book was taking shape and now I knew what Super Pig looked like.

I pretty much gave Don free reign as to what he wanted to do with the artwork. I wasn't paying him nearly enough to be micro managing him. And besides I trusted him to do a great job, and he did. With in a year my book was ready for the publishers.

When my first proof copy came I was so excited! My book in print! It was so cool. I couldn't wait to show it to Don.

I took it to him after showing it to everyone who breathed at work the next day. I left it with him to look through and soon got an e-mail - Roxanna there are some problems with the book. WHAT?!! What do you mean there are problems. It looks great to me. I went down to see him (I'm on the 3rd floor, he's on the 1st). He explained the problems and show me what was wrong. I'd seen none of it, I just saw my book in print. He saw everything, he was a pro. So once he explained, I saw it too and went back upstairs to call my publisher. We finally got it worked out and I got a second proof with all the problems fixed. Next the real thing, my books, in hardback, 25 of them, plus 10 free paperback copies, arrived about 3 weeks later.

Our first book

So happy, so excited, doing the dance of joy I once again showed them to everyone who breathed. I was selling them left and right and mailing them out to my family. I took Don his half and about 20mins later, I get a phone call. It's Don. "I bet you hate hearing from me," he said. "I hate to tell you this but there's a problem with the book." My little heart sank. They had duplicated a page and left one out. Oh man!! I looked through one of my copies and it was fine, no duplicated page. It turned out only half the books had this problem. It had to do with the way they were printed. So, I had to get a hold of everyone who had bought one so they could check their copies for errors and I had to open all my mailing packets to check those copies. I was bummed. But thank heavens I had someone sharp enough around to catch the things I was to giddy to notice. I once again called my publisher and they quickly sent out corrected copies.

Soon after my books arrived, I had a book signing at Wycliffe. My sister, Connie, surprised me with a cake that had my book cover on it. Wish I had a picture of it. A friend, Debbie Darlington, made me a Super Pig costume to wear to the book signing. Back in Huntington Beach we used to have theme parties. We picked a movie and dress like the characters. One of Don's favorites was the Blues Brothers, we dressed like the Blues Brothers and ate food like the Blues Brothers. Don had to have a valve replace in his heart so we had an "Open Heart Surgery" party. We all wore red, the food was red and much of it heart shaped, then we watched a video of his surgery. (I watched most of it with my eyes closed.) So it is no surprise that I would wear a Super Pig costume to my book signing.

Don and I at our first book signing




About 2 years later Don and I worked on Book II "Super Pig to the Rescue". More great artwork and formatting. No problems with the second book.



Artwork for Book II  "Super Pig to the Rescue"





Book II



A few months ago Don became a grandpa for the first time. His son and daughter-in-law had a beautiful baby girl,  Ellie Marie. She was really a miracle baby due to health concern for her mom, so she is a double blessing. That's the great news, the sad news, Don and Myrle put their house up for sale. They are moving to Washington state to be near that new grand baby. I don't blame them for wanting to be close to her. There is nothing like a grand child. They are so much more fun then having your own kids. You get all the fun and half the worry.




The reason for the move to Washington.
Little Ellie Marie.

 

I'm very happy they are now grandparents and will get to spend lots of time with their grand baby, but will miss seeing them in the office. We don't do as much together as we used to, but when we do get together, it is always so much fun. They have a great sense of humor, and Don always has great stories to tell. Don has agreed to continue to do my artwork, he sent me an e-mail that said, "If you want to do anything Super Pigish, I'm willing." which makes me very happy. I have Book III all written, so maybe in between working on prayer letters and playing with that grand baby he'll have a little time to work on artwork. I'm in no big hurry.











My Sister Sherry

My sister Sherry and her son Jimmy

Besides Connie, I have a younger sister named Sherry. Sherry doesn't fall a lot or say things backward, but she does occasionally wet her pants. Oh and she did fall crossing a street once in Barstow. She twisted her ankle and her friend, Chris, ran and got an office chair on wheels and pushed her back to her office. I'm sure that was entertaining for someone.

Unlike Connie who is 10 years older than me, Sherry and I are only 2 years apart so we grew up together. I should say we blew up together, because all we did was fight. My poor mom, we couldn't get along for 2 mins. My brother Tim and I fought all the time too, but when I got into high school, he and I got very close, but not Sherry and I.  We fought right through to our adult years. I called her the sister from hell, the wild cat. She would get so mad and just go berserk when we were kids. Coming at me, fists flying. We were all scared of her. She took no guff and you never knew what would set her off.

When I moved out of the house to Huntington Beach, and in with Connie,  Sherry would come for 'vacations'.  Every time she said she was coming, Connie and would look at each other in terror and look up the fastest flight out of the country.  =}

Sherry had been a 'towhead' from birth. Super white hair that everyone noticed. I was the mousey brown haired girl no one saw. Everywhere we went people commented on Sherry white hair. No one ever said anything about me. One Christmas my mom gave us new dolls, she gave me one with white hair and Sherry one with brown hair. She said I never played with mine. One day she said, "You don't like you new doll do you?" I said, "It has hair like Sherry." She said that was the first time she knew I had a problem with Sherry getting so much attention. So she switched the dolls and I was fine. (I remember the dolls well, but not the part of my being upset over getting one with white hair.)

As we got older her hair darkened and no one said anything about it anymore, but a strange thing began to happen. Everywhere we went people asked if we were twins. Sherry was a bean poll, very thin. I was thin but not like her, she was a good 3ins taller then me and she was blond! What were people seeing that they thought we were twins?

Then one day Sherry got married,  and aliens came down and sucked out her old personality and she got a new one. She was changed, ... over night. Gone was the over sensitive sister from hell. She became, ... our mom. She was so, ... nice! Who knew? If I had known marriage would do this for her, I'd have married her off in the 2nd grade.

Sherry and Jimmy on one of their visits to Florida (do we look like twins!) Oh and you also have to imagine us 20lbs lighter as we have all been on Weight Watchers. (Not bean polls anymore ={ )

Now we were close. We talked, we got along, we were friends.  Sadly it was now her walking on egg shells. Her husband was not easy to live with. The marriage lasted 12years. Then he found a new women and well, that was that. But she got one really great thing from the marriage, and little boy named Jimmy. Not so little now, but he was so sweet and so cute as a little guy. (He's cute as a big guy too, and a great kid)

Jimmy all grown up

Divorce stinks, but Sherry had great friends and they got her through it. Soon after that, Sherry woke up one day in terrible pain. The Dr. said she had 3 masses in her abdomen. It was ovarian cancer. Not what we wanted to hear. But God is good.

With the help of a wonderful friend named Chris and her church family, and her brothers (Connie and I were in Florida so had to stay in touch long distant) she came through it. She was prone to infections and it was a long hard fight, but finally she was doing well. But it came back. 3 times she has batteled this disease and 3 times SHE has won.

I must say she is a real trooper. Very little complaining. No pity parties, I know the Lord got her throught it and her good friend, Chris. Thank God for Chris. I don't know what we would have done without her. She was so great. Always at Sherry's side. Her husband was so generous with her, allowing her to even spend nights near the hospital so she could be there to talk to the Drs early in the mornings when they made their rounds. She was amazing. Thank you Chris.

Sherry's good friend Chris (with her grandbaby)

This last time with lots of prayer for no infections and quick healing, she did super well. Treatment is done once again and she just had a CAT-scan and is cancer free. Thank you Lord!

We are praying it is gone for good this time. I have her on prayer lists all the time, (Facebook has lots of them) lots of friends and family are praying too. Her son is a real prayer warroir, in fact he has been asked to attend the International House of Prayer this summer. We are very proud of him. This time I will believe the cancer is gone, killed off, annihilated. Will you pray that too?

Sherry is very involved in her church. She took up where mom left off, taking on lots of jobs and doing great in each of them. She's a good mom, a great friend and a wonderful sister. I'm very proud of her.

Sherry hopes to move to Florida one day, and this time we won't be looking for the fastest flight out of the country. It will be good to have her near us. Jimmy says he'll move too. It will be great to have him close, to get to know him better. He was just 5 when we moved to Florida and we have miss so much of his life. When you are a World Champion Auntie it is very hard to be so far from neices and nephews.

Sherry is in my books too. Shes a little squirrel, though I should have made her a bulldog with all the fight that is in her. I didn't tell my family I was writing a book. When the first one was published, I just mailed them a copy. They were shocked. They all received them the same day and I got 3 phone calls, (my 2 brothers and Sherry) one after another. I had caught a bad cold and had lost my voice, so could only talk a bit, but they were so excited for me and very proud. (I hadn't put my brother Mike in the book and he was a bit disappointed in that, so had to put him in the next one.)

Being part of a family has its hard moments, but also great reward. I'm so glad I have my 2 sisters with me still. Sherry will celebrate her 52nd birthday in August. (she'll probably kill me for telling you that) Oh no! I better look out for her flying fist of fury.  =}

My Friend Linda Part 2

Linda passed away 5 years ago. It is still hard to believe she is gone. I still get mad at her. Why did she do that?

I told you how Linda lived, now let me tell you how she died. 

When Connie got cancer, Linda was the one who kept her going, she and Pastor Bill. I would go with Connie to the Dr. and often Linda met us there. Connie would be nervous and fearful, (me too) but as soon as Linda walked through the door she calmed down instantly. Linda did that for people. When Linda got cancer, Connie was able to be there for her.

Linda and I didn't always get along. Linda could be very bossy and controlling and I rebelled. We knocked heads a lot, but I still loved her.

When we learned she might have cancer,  I prayed and prayed. Then good news. The surgeon didin't feel it was cancer, just a mass, what a relief. Connie was going through the last part of chemo when Linda went in for surgery. She couldn't be there, but serveral of us were, Judy Gunn, who was visiting from Panama, our friend Sandy Young and me. When the Dr. came to talk to us, it wasn't what we wanted to hear. It was cancer and it was bad. We were allowed to go see her and she kept asking what the Dr. had said. We didn't want to tell her everything right then, but Linda liked to face things head on. I did not.

Linda was amazing. She was in such great shape, she recoved quickly form surgery and one day she came to see Connie and I. When I got home from work I could tell Connie had been crying. Linda told me she had something to tell me. The cancer was a nasty type, very agressive, she had maybe 6 mos. (The Dr. later gave her a year) I was stuned. We all had a good cry, then she told us she wasn't going to have any treatments to prolong her life, she just wanted to go to heaven. I was so MAD at her! Why couldn't she at least try? But she truly felt the Lord was telling her it was her time to come home. I didn't like His message at all.

Linda didn't live a year, she didn't live 6 mos. 5 short months later she was gone. Within 2 mos she was bed ridden. Every now and then she would rally and get out of bed. She was still funny, still caring and she showed us how to die.

Sometimes she seemed too eager to die. Excited about going to heaven. I would get so mad. Didn't she know she was leaving us? She was leaving us all (The Gang) behind. Wasn't she going to miss us? Didn't she know how much we would miss her? One day she came to Connie and burst into tears. "I just realized how much I'm going to miss you guys."

Some of "The Gang" with Linda

Towards the end she moved in with a couple, Phil and Sandy Young. They were missionaries with Wyclife too and were the reason Linda had joined the organization. They were wonderful people, I don't know what we would have done without them. They gave her such loving care. Sandy was a nurse and had worked at a Hospice. Linda called Phil her "Man Servent". She ordered him around quite a bit. =} 

We went to see her often but she could only handle short visits so a group of us would hang out in the livingroom talking. Linda would usually hear us and call someone back to give her opinion on whatever we were talking about. She was still Linda after all.

One day Linda told The Gang she didn't want us coming to see her anymore. She didn't want us to see her that way. One day we all met at the Youngs and she called us back one at a time (or as couples)  to say good bye. It was horrible and wonderful. How often do you get to tell the dying you love them one last time. I asked forgivness for being a brat so often, for the fighting. I was ashamed now. All the wasted time, all the petty pickering. Stupid, stupid! She forgave me gladly and said she loved me. I said I loved her too and I really did. Even with all the clashes in recent years, I would miss her so much. She was a rock for all of us. After we said our goodbyes, we all had a good cry, held hands and prayed.

The Lord was so good in that Connie finished chemo while Linda was in the hospital and was going through radiation when Linda got really bad. The Lord gave Connie energy and strength during those last days and she was able to visit Linda everyday, until she said no more.

We got a phone call early on a Sunday morning in Febuary. Linda was gone. The Gang got together and though we all belonged to different churches, we all went together that morning. Everyone came to our church, the one Linda and Connie and I attended. Our pastor had been with Linda to the end, had been a great comfort to her and us. He patterned his sermon around Linda and introduced The Gang and let us each say something if we wanted too.

Later we held a large memorial service for her at Wycliffe, attended by about 300 of her bestfriends.


We still talk about Linda a lot. All the funny things she said and did. We often quote her when someone cuts us off in traffic. She would always say, "Now that poor man probably has diarreha and needs to get to a bathroom." Or when we don't want to do something we know we should, we can hear her saying, "Now what would the Lord what you to do? You know you need to do this."

Linda was still living when I was writing my first book. I made her "Linda Lizard" a helpful, very talkitive little lizard and Super Pigs good friend. She was gone before the books were published. She would have been so happy to see the stories in print.

Page from my book with Linda Lizard. (she's the one waving of course)

Linda made Connie the executor of her will. She had a good life insurance policy and she was a saver. Connie had the job of distributing the money to all the people Linda left it too. She said it was one of the best jobs she's ever had. Many of the people worked in our office so she got to deliver the checks in person. People were always shocked and overwhelmed. Connie always took a box of kleenex with her. Linda requested that with her tax return money, The Gang and our pastor and his wife, go out for a nice dinner. So in May The Gang got together and went to Buca Di Beppo a fun Italian resturant for a wonderful meal and to reminisce.

Linda's favorite tree was the Crepe Myrtle, a beautiful flowering tree. The Wycliffe office bought 3 trees and planted them beside "the lake" behind the office, in Linda's memory.

We all learned something from Linda. She had very little in the way of material things, but was wealthy in friendships and in her love for the Lord. I don't doubt she is living in a very beautiful masion right now, with a very heavy crown on her head. I'm sure also, that she is bossing all the disciples, apostles and angels around, and I have a feeling she has been put in charge of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

My Friend Linda Part 1

Today I want to tell you about my good friend Linda McMillan. Linda died of cancer 5 years ago, seems so much longer.

Linda was one of those people, you know, the kind that became instant friends with everyone. Everyone she knew thought of her as their best friend. At her memorial service, everyone who got up to speak, said. "Linda was my bestfiend."

From the very first day Linda stepped foot in the head quarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Huntington Beach California, she was our bestfriend. In fact she and Connie were pretty much inseparable.

Linda had been a wild child, smoking, drinking, partying. She married another wild child, it didn't last. Linda was searching for something, she tried different religions, but one day a kid on a bus yelled out to her, "Jesus loves you!" She never forgot that, she kept thinking about it and one day a friend led her to the Lord. He'd been a real wild child, a heavy drug user, but one day he showed up, a totally changed man. She had to know why, so he told her and her life was totally changed too. Boy was it ever.

Linda was a waking testimony, sharing her faith with everyone she met. I'm sure when she got to heaven, many people greeted her with whom she had shared , other people who's lives were forever changed. There was just something about Linda, people felt safe with her and they told her their life stories, in check out lines, at gas stations, information booth. It was amazing. When we went shopping and had to wait for her (and it took forever), she'd come running and say, "Sorry I took so long, but that poor girl. She told me....." Her life story with all her troubles and woes. People just saw something in her, no doubt it was Jesus. Linda had a way of befriending the "forgotten" people. The ones most people wouldn't give the time of day. She always took time for them, went out of ther way for them. Made them feel loved and important.

One of those friends was an older lady named Phyllis. I don't think she had any friends, except Linda, and was rather difficult to work with. Phyllis became very ill and die. Linda arranged her memorial service and asked our pastor to led it. He did such a wonderful job and it was a very nice service. Just one of the many loving things Linda did for people.

Linda was very funny too. You can be a good Christian and be funny. Who knew?! When we met Linda she was working temporarily at the office waiting for her visa. She was going to Colombia as a missionary. She was only in the office for 9 months but she made a huge impact. She started a group called the WUGGs. Wycliffe Unattached Guys and Gals. We had a ton of young singles working at the office. She organized activities for us every weekend. (I'm sure she is on the Social Committee in Heaven).

When she finally got her visa for Colombia, instead of celebrating that she was finally going to the mission field, we went into mourning. She was leaving us and we were going to miss her terribly. Linda ministered in Colombia for over 20yrs, and of course became bestfriends with everyone there too.

 Linda was a good letter writer (this was way before cell phones, skype and even e-mail, though we did start using e-mail once we got it.) and kept in close touch with Connie and I and others I'm sure. She came home on furlough every 3-4 years and we'd just take up were we left off, like we'd never been apart.

When our father died, Linda told us that she'd be in Calif  and could come to the service in Hinkley. She come alright. People at the service were coming up to Connie & I and saying, "Your friend Linda is so wonderful," and on and on about her. Connie and I are going, "Hey, we are the ones who's father died, remember us?" 

She stayed with us at our folks home the rest of our stay in Hinkley. We rented the movie "Erin Brockovich" while she was there. She was so thrilled to watch a movie about Hinkley (where I grew up) in Hinkley. (If you've never heard of the movie you can google it).

Wycliffe moved from Hungtoning Beach to Orlando in 1999 and about a years later Wycliffe closed the Colombia Branch. Linda moved to Orlando and went to work at the HQ as an accountant. The finance dept didn't know what hit them.


When she first moved to Orlando, she stayed with Connie and I at our apt until she could find a place of her own. We rode to work together everyday and every evening when we got in the car to go home, she'd say, "Ok, this is what we are going to do tonight..." One week she went to Dallas for meetings and she called. "What are you doing," she asked. "Nothing," I said. "I'm just sitting on the couch staring into space. You're not here to tell me what to do." 

Linda slept on a blow up mattress in the livingroom. When she got her own place she didn't have any furniture yet so she took the blow up mattress and asked me to help her get it in the car. She tried every which way to get that thing in the car, but it was not going to fit. I hope the neighbors were watching because it was quite a show. She finally said, "Well I guess I'm just not going to be able to take it." I said, "Why don't you let the air out?" She just looked at me and then cracked up. She hadn't even thought of it. We laughed over that for years.

It seemed we were always making something for a finance party. It was often she and I doing the whole thing. For one party she wanted to make my mom's cinnimon rolls. They were very easy, but we had to make, like 100. We got all the stuff and went to my place to begin our baking. During the process, Linda picked up the pan full of the cinnimon mixture and almost dropped it. She might as well have because she juggled the thing all over the kitchen for at least 3mins, cinnimon was flying everywhere. I was frozen in horror yet facinated by her juggling skills. Our kitchen was covered in cinnimon, but the up side was, it smelled so good for months. Of course we laughed our heads off afterward. I'll never forget the look on her face as she juggled that pan of cinnimon.

Once we had to make a million little egg salad sandwiches. Linda made them one egg at a time. She literally cut up and mixed one egg at a time. I'm just staring at her. Who does that? She said it tasted better that way.

When our parents died, we sold their home in Hinkley and  Connie and I were able to buy a house. Linda was able to rent a room in a house just 2 doors down. (we all agreed that her living with us wouldn't be a good idea, but as you can imagine, she lived mostly at our place anyway.) One evening when she was over we discovered 3 little frogs had gotten in the house. They got in all the time and Connie was scared to death of them. They were less then an inch long, yes, very terrifying. Anyway I managed to catch 2 of them in a box but one hopped into the kitchen under the dishwasher. I said to Linda, "Do you think if we put a bag down it would hop into it?"  "Yeah, thats a good idea."  So we get a grocery bag and Linda get down on the floor and is trying to coxe the tiny frog into the bag. She talked sweet baby talk to it, "Come on baby, get in the bag,"  She put the bag right up to the frog and scared it. It hopped right on her face. We almost killed each other trying to get away. We were both screaming and running around the kitchen like crazy people. I think the frog died of a heart attack.

Ah, Linda, we laughed so much with her. Life with  was never dull. By the time she moved to Orlando Connie and I were hanging with "The Gang". It didn't take her long to fit in, though there were a few clashes with other strong personalities, but with a few adjustments, she once again became everyones bestfriend and our social director.

Stay tuned for Part II.

Connie Can Even Make Chemo Funny.




Connie blowing out her candles last year (June 12th 2010)

Eight years ago Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found a lump and was scared to death, but I kept telling her, "it's nothing." She always thinks she has cancer. I got used to statements like, "I have a headache, I know it's a brain tumor." "My elbow aches, it's bone cancer!" "I have black spots in front of my eyes! I have eye cancer!" After years of hearing this, I found it hard to take it seriously, after all she had had

breast cancer at least 106 times.

 But this time it was for real.

It's a terrifing feeling when someone you are close to gets a life threatening illness. I did a lot of praying, begging really.

You wouldn't think you'd find anything funny about cancer, but with Connie the possibility of a good story is never far away.

Of course, after surgery, chemotherapy was ordered and when she started to lose her hair, it fell out in clumps. Our good friend, Linda McMillian, thought it best to shave her head. It's rather tramatic to lose your hair, but even then we could find humor. Linda bought a bunch of skull caps and all of finance, and other friends at the office, put them on and met her at the entrance the day after her hair was gone. Two of the men even shaved their heads so she wouldn't feel alone. (She is well love at the office. The day of her surgery, depts. all over our office stopped work at the time of the surgery and gathered in groups to pray.)

As you go through chemotherapy, it changes. They use different drugs at different times. One day the nurse told her one of the new drugs would turn her 'urine orange'. Connie thought she said it would turn her 'earrings orange', so she says, "It will turn my earrings orange! Should I take them off? And what about my watch, should I take that off too?" Our good friend Jane was with her and laughed her head off. She told us about it later, so for her birthday, which was just days away, everyone gave her a pair of orange earrings.



Connie and our friend Larry modeling chemo caps

Connie wore hats when she first lost her hair, a co-worker made her chemo caps. Fun, fuzzy, colorful hats. Connie loved them and wore them in the evenings because her head was always cold. But for work she decided to get a wig. We went to a wig shop and the sales lady was very helpful. She fited her with a very nice, natural looking wig.  It looked good on her and she loved it - it made it so fast to get ready in the morning. No  more fussing with her hair, just pull your wig on and you're ready. Even after her hair grew back, she thought about sticking with the wig.

Connie in her new wig

Larry in Connie's wig   =}

Connie always kept her head covered up. I'm not sure I ever saw her  little bald head until... the accident.

One day on our way home from church, we were sitting at a red light when WHAM!!! we are hit very hard from behind. It was such a shock. I couldn't figure out what had happened. We flew forward, legs flying up hitting the dash, then back. My seat flew back as far as it would go, then sprung. It felt like I was sitting on the floor. A sports car had rear-ended us.

Thank the Lord it was a small car, or we would have been in the hospital or worse. (We only got a bit sore and huge bruises were our legs hit the dash, and from the seatbelt)  There were 3 SUV's in front of me. Being squished between 4 cars caused my car to bend, a huge crease appeared right down the middle of the roof. It was totalled. (but amazingly, still driveable)

After we made sure we were Ok and in one piece, I soon realized my vision wasn't right. My glasses had flown off from the impact. As I searched for them, I finally really looked at Connie and with my fuzzy vision I could see her little bald head. Her wig had flown off just like my glasses. She starts to get out of the car and I said, "Your wig came off!" She said something to me, I never knew what, as I was so shocked she was getting out of the car like that. She just shut the car door and went to talk to the guy who hit us. I'm thinking, I cannot believe she is going out there without her wig. She must  be really mad!  She wouldn't even let me see her without it.

There she was (so brave), talking to everyone, the guy who hit us, the guys we hit, and the policeman who came. Even people driving by. A big church was getting out right where we were  hit and a ton of cars were going by. We knew some of the people and Connie is waving. I'm thinking, "I cannot believe she is doing this without her wig!" She just had these little wispy hairs sticking up, blowing in the wind. It was so sad.

After all the talking was done, we stood in the medium waiting for the policeman to give us his report, and I say to her, again, "You do know that you don't have your wig on, right?" Apparently not from the look on her face. She put both hands on her head, her eyes bugged out, her mouth flew open, "Oh no!" She runs to the car and franticly looks for the wig. (I guess when I told her the first time she was in shock so didn't even hear me.) We found her wig  in the back seat along with my glasses. (I said if anyone had been sitting there, they'd be wearing my glasses and her wig.=) She grabs up the wig and jams it down on her head, she can't believe she has gone wigless in front of all those people. I can't believe she didn't know. Couldn't she feel the wind blowing those wispy little hairs around?

Since my car was driveable, I drove it home and we are laughed our heads off over the wig or lack of it. Connie is like my mom. She always laughs at her own crazy antics. I thought about it for months. I would just suddenly start to laugh and Connie would say, "You're thinking about the wig again aren't you?"

Connie has been cancer free for 5 years. When asked if she'd ever what to go through it again, she always say no, (of course) but she was glad she had cancer. It showed her how much God really loved her. He did something speical for her everyday to show her how much He cared and she grew so much during that time. And she has since done a few things she had been afraid to do before, like travel out of the country. Once you've faced the possiblily of death, nothing else seems that scary.

Her hair grew back a long time ago, it's darker now, all the gray is gone. That is often a side benefit of chemo, (besides it killing the cancer and all ) I don't think its fair. She is 10yrs older then me and I am totally gray. At 64, she should have tons of gray. But since she's had cancer, I'll let it pass.

I'm so thankful my sister is still here and will be 64. That's sound old, but it's really not. Haven't you heard, 60 is the new 50. She still looks great and  is still pretty spry, (when upright). No one would ever guess her age, (so act surprised if she tells you).

In my Super Pig books she is Connie Collie, it's a good choice. She's a faithful and loyal friend, a great big sister and she fetches really well.  Just kidding. I am thinking of keeping her on a leash though, she fell again this week. She was out walking in our neighborhood. (Thank goodness none of our neightbors saw her, I'd have to wear a bag over my head when with her), but a man driving by stopped to see if she was OK. She said she was used to falling and was fine. She has a swollen, badly bruised knee, is very sore, but no teeth were knocked out.

I do hope she lives to see 65. 

This is Connie and I with our nephew Jimmy. You can see how dark her hair is compared to mine.

Is this fair?  (She is even smirking about it).

More about Connie

This is how Connie feels about getting another year older. =}

Since this is Connie's birthday month, (her bday is the 12th) I wanted to tell some funny stories about her. Well more funny stories about her, there are so many to choose from.

Besides the habit of falling, Connie has another curious habit. She says things backwards or transposed, meaning she either swiches the first letters of two words that go together, like for instance, eggs and bacon would be beggs and acon, or she says them in the wrong order like Taco Bell is always Bell Taco.

I'm not sure when this started. I don't remember her doing it as a kid. The falling I remember. The falling could be hereditery as my mom fell a lot too.  But I don't ever remember Mom gettting her words mix up like Connie does, so I think this is just her own little thing. She calls it Spoonerism, though I don't really know if that's what it's called, or if it is even a word, but she insists it is and I think she was just thrilled to learn her disorder had a name. (I have learned since posting this that there is indeed something called "Spoonerism" and from the definition, it's sounds like Connie does suffer from it.=)

Here are a few examples that I remember, (there have been so many, I should start writing them down). We were driving down the road and we saw a bill board advertising the new Star Wars movie. My little neice Emily, well she was little at the time, was with us and  Connie says to her, "That looks scary, especially that Vath Darter." meaning, of course, Darth Vader. Emily says, "Yeah." My sister in law, who was driving, was laughing so hard we almost had an accident.

One summer we went to Colorado to visit our good friends the Neiswenders. Jane was graduating from Seminary with a degree in counseling so we were there to see her graduate. Her family gave her a party and one of her gifts was Pumba, from the movie Lion King. When Connie saw it she said, "Oh it's a wag hort!" meaning - wart hog. We all fell on the ground laughing. When we told the story to a friend, he said, "What is it supposed to be?"  Connie says, "Hort Wag." I, of course, lost it.

See if you can figure out what she is trying to say in this one.One day we took a friend home from work. I work for Wycliffe, a missionary organization, and our friend was a very proper missionary girl. Connie was saying how she didn't know if we would be able to go walking that evening because I was having trouble with "splin shits".

How about this one, the other day she told me she was in a meeting and "Small Pith" was there via tela-conference. (Paul Smith)

We worked with a man named Larry Perry. Connie lived in fear of calling him Perry Larry.

One day I was watching a TV show, one of those survival shows, I think it was call, "I Shouldn't Be Alive." (I should tell them about Connie). Anyway this guy had just fallen and gotten these huge thorns in his hands.Connie came in as he was running through trees, trying to get help for his friend, pulling these throns out of his hand. Connie says, "Are those stee bings? I mean stee bings. No, I mean stee bings." Can you guess what she is trying to say? At this point I am on the ground and I don't care what she means, though I know what she is trying to say. I have developed an ability to understand her transposed talk after so many years. (It's "bee stings")

Many times after she tells our friends something, they all look at me for the translation.

She also tells jokes wrong and gets saying and slogans mixed up.  She is always saying, "He'll get his up comings."  "Bedside manner" is "sidebed manner". One day we were talking about Timex watches. Connie says, "Yeah, they take a beating and keep on licking." The slogan is "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

Life is rarely dull around here.