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Elaine - the baby. I know that is not a title a person wants to be saddled with through their whole life, but Elaine was the last of us. She is 12 years younger than me and I doted on her from the beginning. Where MaryBeth had Liz to be a sister to, I had Elaine.When she was young and would wake in the night, she would come to my twin bed and I would scoot over and make room for her. Mom always wanted to know why I didn't take her back to her own bed and, honestly, that meant I would have had to get out of my warm, toasty bed and walk across the hall and it was so much better to just invite her in and snuggle. I loved her for her cuddly nature - her curly blond hair - her lisp caused in part by falling on her upper teeth and damaging them - and her competitive nature. Of those things, the lisp was the only thing she grew out of. Unlike me, she always wanted to be number one. She was (and still is) an accomplished athlete. With my mother's help, she petitioned her grade school to be allowed to play football with the boys at lunch break. In those days, girls played girl games - only boys were allowed to play football. And once she was allowed to, she did play, even though it was not her sport. She set her goals in high school to be one of the better students, one of the first sophomores to get a senior varsity letter in sports, one of the most popular and well loved. She played softball with a group of girls, a few of whom she played with for the next twenty plus years. An excellent soccer player, she now assists her daughters' soccer teams as a team mother, manager and referee. Elaine was a member of the ski patrol, and even tried to teach me how to ski; a valiant effort on her part but I failed miserably.
I worry about Elaine because her nature is so competitive that I fear she will die some day of disappointment. She is so incredibly good at what she does, that if God takes her abilities away, would she be able to function as a normal person? I have the same concern for Clark Kent, David Banner and Diana Trevor. No one should be forced to live in the regular world by hiding their super powers.
When Elaine decided to marry, she picked a man who had the same drive and spirit she did. This is quite a match as each not only wanted to be the best, but to support each other in their achievements. To make things even better, they became the parents of two exceptional girls - Rachael, the eldest, is a first place person - she pushes herself to be number one at school and in sports, mostly soccer and Kayleigh, who is a great athlete, but seems to just want to be good at it all, not having picked a special sport yet. Both girls play basketball, a game their mom never played, and soccer and softball, two sports Elaine loved and excelled at. Elaine first "gold" was in volleyball, but her girls aren't old enough to be part of an accomplished team yet.
Elaine can't be categorized. She has friends to pray with, friends to do sports with, friends to drink with. She is a good Catholic girl who supports her parish by teaching Sunday school and then goes to a Packer party...yes, she is an avid sports fan as well as a player. Elaine is the one most likely to drink the guys under the table and still be able to tell you the game highlights and lowlights. She is a good listener, an incessant talker and an accomplished musician. She hosts parties that no one wants to leave and is a gracious and funny guest at your home.
Elaine is so good at everything that it is hard to not resent her or be jealous - but, as I know from experience, she only puts the pressure to be number one on herself and supports others (me) half-baked efforts.
When we married, my brother and sisters became Dukes special family, but he bonded with Elaine the most. It was a lot to do with her loving nature and the fact that she treated him like a big brother. He was so much older that she just folded into his affection for her and was often more like my daughter than my sister.
Many times she packed up an infant and three year old and drove thirty miles to sit with me when my husband was hospitalized - plus sent over dinners and gave me monetary help to get by till things normalized. None of this was asked for or expected, but I needed the help and she recognized it. For the first time, I was the one who wandered to her bed, woke her up and she scooted over and let me in.

My baby sister - my friend, Elaine.