This is Robin - one of Anna's three sisters. Anna and I were born 15 months apart. When we were little, we would pretend to be twins. We even developed a secret language that we told each other was French. I vividly remember holding hands and skipping to the chicken house to gather eggs and speaking "French". As teenagers 15 months apart was too close because we wanted all the same things at the same time: clothes, jewelry, makeup, friends, and boys! The competition for all those things drove us apart for a bit, which is probably normal but still sad.
Anna was the hardest worker I've ever known. When our family was raising tobacco, Anna was the fastest "puller" in the whole family at harvest time. She was even faster than our father and that's saying something. She would get to the end of her row and come back to help everyone else. I'm pretty sure part of her motivation was to finish early enough to get to the dance at the lake!
Anna LOVED to dance. In the 70's there was a dance called the breakdown and she had those moves down solid as a rock. I can still see her dancing her heart out and sometimes I would get out on the dance floor and join her. We realized early on that we didn't need a male dance partner to have fun dancing. Plus, it was the rare guy who danced like we did!
Friendships were an important part of Anna's life. She and her best friend from high school remained best friends throughout their lives - hi, Pam! Most of Anna's friends were guys and she somehow managed to make friends with their partners too, which isn't always easy. Anna counted many of those guys as close friends right up to the end - hi Eric, Ike and Al!
The kitchen is where Anna really shined. She and I often traded recipes and couldn't wait to tell each other what we'd had for dinner on any given night. Our awesome Mom showed us by example the way to a man's heart and we took her lessons to heart. If you're married to a Byrd girl, you WILL be eating like a king!
I will miss Anna's laugh, her determination to do things people told her she couldn't do, her million-dollar smile, and her sisterly love. But, I am truly happy that she is no longer in pain and I'm pretty sure she and our mother are on a beach somewhere dancing and wiggling their toes in the sand. Save a dance for me!
