Cabbage Patch Sister

Remember Cabbage Patch dolls? My sister thought she was one!

I am the oldest of six children. All girls and one boy. My youngest sister was always outdoors with Daddy digging in the vegetable garden, planting, pulling weeds, whatever was needed. We all pitched in but she was there much more than the rest of us.

My little brother was your typical brother. Mischevious, sneaky, always teasing us about one thing or another. You know how it goes, annoying but still loveable, right? Brothers.

For some reason, he began to pester our youngest sister to no end. Why was she in the dirt so much? Why did she like getting her hands dirty and being with bugs? She would just shrug her shoulders and try to ignore his taunting.

Shrugging him off didn't last long though.

"Mom and Dad found you in the garden when you were a baby," he falsely explained. "Yeah, right in there with the black-eyed peas and okra. They felt sorry for you so they went down to the courthouse and legally adopted you."

She cried. Oh, how she cried. And then she ran to Mom for confirmation. 

"Why would I have five children and then go adopt another one?" Mom asked with a  tear-stopping hug.

Chelle became a collector of those Cabbage Patch dolls and still has each of them to this day. She also continues to dig in the dirt where she lives in rural Oklahoma as an avid and very experienced homesteader.

You never know what, or who, will shape your life.

By: Melissa Andres