A - Z Blogging Challenge 04.25.2026

I am sitting for just a second to catch my breath before we leave for the airport.  Going to dash off posts for today, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday just so I can say I published SOMETHING for each day of the A - Z Blogging Challenge.  These will definitely not be my best work.  Nor my best writing.  But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!

Yesterday's post was about YOU for the letter U.  A little THANK U note to my readers and blogger friends who have found something here in my blogging that keeps you coming back.  Probably just to see how crazy I am today.  But whatever the reason you chose to stop by today, I thank YOU.  If you missed that post, please find it here.  

Today's post brings you the letter V.  And I got nothing.  I would love to write a whole post about my sister Valerie but in the time I have before we jump in the car, I couldn't do her justice.

Well, let me try...

V is for Valerie

Bear in mind, that this is a very condensed version of why my baby sister is a glimmer in my life.  

We are 2 years apart.  I am the big little sister as I am older but shorter.  Valerie is the little big sister as she is younger and taller.  We were playmates and sisters first but about 18 years ago, I would say something changed and we really became friends.  Good, good friends.

Valerie was a reading specialist in Houston and was ready for a career change.  I loved my job as a school librarian, see the post about the glimmers my career gave me, here.  Valerie decided to become a librarian, too, and started work on her library certification.

Sisters Who Play Together

When Valerie became a librarian we had another huge part of our lives in common aside from our parents and our upbringing and the 40 years of life we had shared up to that point!!

One of our favorite things to do together has always been scrapbooking.  Valerie got started with that hobby about 5 years before I did so she taught me the ropes.  Whenever we were together, we scrapbooked.  

Once Valerie became a librarian, we started attending the annual Texas Library Association Conferences (TXLA) together.  We would attend the conference programs all day, cruising up and down the aisles of the vendor displays in between our sessions.  

And then at night we would spread our scrapbooking stuff all over our hotel room floor and scrapbook into the night.  So much fun.  In the photo below, baby sister is posing beside our luggage cart.  We packed everything but the kitchen sink for those conference trips.  Most of that stuff is scrapbook paper and stickers!!

One year we even worked an overnight scrapbook retreat in Corsicana, Texas into our library conference plans.  Here's Valerie taking in her things for the 2-day retreat.

Some of that might be my stuff.  But I don't think so.  Valerie is the Queen of Scrapbooking and always has the best supplies.  Which she very generously shares with her little big sister.

And oh, the adventures we had at the conferences every year.  So much laughter.  Time to reconnect with one of my favorite ever people. A couple of years we even presented at TXLA together.  More laughter and hyjinx.  

With all the advances in technology, we now scrapbook at least once a week using WhatsApp video calls.  We also craft and paint together.  In the photo below, we are working on a collage project.

In the photo above, we have Valerie, the Queen of Scrapbooking, teaching Cady that fine art.

For years, we kept the road - or the skies  - hot traveling from Texas to Kentucky to visit our parents.  Especially, after our father died in 2012 and our mother became very fragile.  The next 10 years after his death, we were together in Kentucky several times a year visiting Mom.  As you can tell, our mom was a queen, too.

The photos above were taken the last time we were with our mom together for a happy occasion.  We were celebrating her 95th birthday.  Less than 5 months later, Mom would be gone.

Not Just the Queen of Scrapbooking

Valerie has now retired from her career, too.  These days she is a vendor for some of the book companies we loved best when we were librarians.  And these days I continue to dabble in books with my online book club, Come Read with Me.  Valerie is manning the show for my book club while I am galivanting all over Europe in the next 2 weeks.

Valerie is no longer just the Queen of Scrapbooking.  Since moving to Tennessee about 4 years ago, Valerie has been selected Mrs. Senior Cumberland County and Mrs. Senior Putnam County and has competed beautifully twice in the Mrs. Senior Tennessee Pageant.  In the first photo, she is dressed to be interviewed by the judges in the Mrs. Senior Tennessee Pageant that was held just last weekend.

She is just so polished.  That's my baby sister right there, folks.  And in the photo below, she is walking the runway in her evening gown for the same pageant.

And at her coronation one year.

Competing in these pageants has given Valerie a whole new confidence and a brand new set of friends in Tennessee.  I am so proud of how she has blossomed.

I could fill pages of all the ways my sister brings joy and blessing to my life.  But PC is loading up the suitcases so it is time for me to set my laptop aside and get into vacation mode.

I love you, Wowsy Ann, big little sister.  Can't wait til we can be together again for another scrapbooking session and giggle fest.

Your Turn

I am blessed with 2 very precious siblings.  My brother's name is Kevin.  And he is a swell fella, too.  This weekend Kevin is in pig heaven holding his brand new granddaughter.  How we are blessed.

Enjoy a peaceful weekend, friends.  Thank you for taking a few minutes to be here with me.

Hugs and kisses,