Misty Mountain Hop

My sister R is an exceptional cook and a modest baker too. She has all kinds of professional food experience going way back. She actually worked for my mom and dad for years. She even started a whole separate restaurant with my mother that did kick ass business until the GE Factory shut down across the street. That restaurant was super cute and had a warm inviting vibe for all the fellahs gettin' off work. But she also worked in fancy downtown restaurants making high end food.

R is closest in age to me, two years older. We shared a fierce healthy sense of humor from a very young age. I probably was a bit more enamoured of her but I was the 'little bratty sister'. I liked her all to myself, chasing other kids out of the yard and being a bit resentful of them wanting to come play with us. I never truly appreciated the concept of sharing. Ever since we were tiny she loved the mountains and nature. I dreamed of living in New York, getting all my ideas of life from movies. Now, she's out in Colorado enjoying those mountains, fishing, gardening and nature in general. She makes hand-crafted jewelry out of pretty rocks that she's found herself. Beautiful inexpensive gorgeous pieces. Take a look. www.etsy.com/shop/RMDROCKS.

I've been in New York for about 17 years. City mouse and country mouse. Unfortunately our youth, teens and tweens were complicated and we drifted a bit apart just trying to make our way through time on our individual life rafts. We were drifting fast in the deep waters of the Midwest in the 70's. I remember at 9 she came to me with her new BFF Trudy. Trudy was blonde, funny and had every intention of having fun. Of course I resented her. R told me basically that she was gonna 'grow up' now. She had a 45 record case that we stored our Barbies and their entire line of clothing in and she dumped that thing out right then and there. Her childhood retirement ceremony if you will. Harsh, I thought. I found it very troubling back then and did everything I could to keep up with her newfound worldliness. Most seemed to revolve around boys, pot and drinking. Drugs followed very shortly. I was way over my head and she was too but soon I also found a partner in crime to share 151 proof rum with before grade school and then everything else snowballed from there. Let's just say issues were formed before we both hit double digits. Much of the rest is kinna fuzzy. But now we're both sober and much clearer. We never completely lost touch, she was always a very strong support system for me. Through the last probably 9 years we've reconnected strongly as friends and adults. We've been exchanging ideas and all things food daily for a long while. I like to send her food porn and once in a while she'll send me something she's cooked up too along with great scenic photos. Someday it would be a dream come true to have a business together out there.

Minus the bear. I'm deathly scared of brown bears.