My little sister Lisa really changed our family when she arrived. She was a baby. She was a girl. And at first we didn’t know what to do with her. Having never really spent time around infants, we boys were inquisitive and fairly flexible with the new addition. Mom was a housewife, and therefore our new sister didn’t require a lot of effort on our part or take up any of our space. One thing that did change as Lisa moved into tottlerhood, was the competition between the brothers for her attention. “Hey Lisa,” we would say, “who’s your favorite brother?” She would say the name of whomever tickled her fancy that moment. Even though as boys we were known to rough house and tease each other quite frequently, we figured we had to treat Lisa differently – making her cry for any reason was never a good thing, particularly when Dad was around. One day Kent was acting up about something, and he pushed 4 year-old Lisa so hard she hit her head on the coffee table and started to wail. Mom got upset and Dad quickly grabbed Kent and dragged him into the master bedroom and slammed the door. All of us waited outside to see what would happen. There was quiet, and then “BANG!!, ” there was the loudest noise I ever heard inside the house. A minute later Kent emerged from the room crying. He walked over to Lisa and apologized and then went on to his room. Dad then told Brad and me to go into his bedroom to see something. In my parent’s wall was a fist-sized hole. Dad looked at us and said he punched this hole in the wall, and the next time anybody hurts Lisa, this is what he’s going to do to us. He also said it would be Kent’s job to patch it up and paint it.  I remember Lisa having a few temper tantrums in the grocery store, and one instance when she saw an African-American man for the first time. She pointed at him, laughed, and said out loud “Mommy, look at that silly man with the black all over his face!” Mom was so embarrassed she literally grabbed her and ran out of Shop Rite. For the most part though, Lisa was very quiet and shy. She was quick to smile, but you also knew when she wasn’t happy. She had a great laugh that was our reward when we played with her and competed for her attention. We used to play tickle games with her. One was “LaBonza” and the other was “Clawhold.” Both required us to say the word over and over again as we moved closer to her. She would panic, and then we would tickle her. “LaBonza” was a tickle mostly in the stomach, while “Clawhold” was focused on her sides. Mom seemed to really enjoy raising a girl and Dad was over the moon with his little “Lovable Type”, as he often called her. We thought it was pretty cool too, having a sister. As time passed, life would take many turns and we would all take turns watching out for her and protecting her as she went through the stages of childhood. Now living in New Mexico, Lisa married her soul mate Nick Arge and have a son of their own, Alexander. A side note about the hole in the wall story. Dad later admitted he didn’t check where the studs were in the wall before he punched it. He would’ve easily broken his hand.