My sister is quite novel.

My sister would make a good character in a novel. Because she's an interesting study. A woman of multiple marriages. And in her lifetime, she's gone from rags to riches. At the same time, she's had major health problems. Much of it from her own undoings. But here she is in her 71st year. Still surviving. And well-off financially. Partly the result of marrying money. But also, as a result of her own acumen. From wise investments in the stock market. If I ever wrote a novel, I'd probably bring her into it. As well as a few other people I've known over a lifetime. Maybe even my brother and my mother and my father. Nobody is totally immune. Because I learn from the people in my life. I'd end up putting most of 'em, and maybe all of 'em, in favorable lights. Yes, I'd try not to be judgmental. Because there's probably not a right way or a wrong way to live one's life. And from my perspective, everyone lives interesting lives. Worthy of becoming a protagonist in a novel. At times, I've lost contact with my sister. But in recent times, I've renewed and cultivated the relationship. To some extent, at the urging of my Italian girlfriend. Who happens to be big on family. Anyway, I think my sister and I are honest with each other. We tell it as we see it. I'm not sure if my sister sees reality as clearly as I do. Or maybe it's that we have quite different realities. But I do give my sister credit for getting her act together. She's become a recovering alcoholic. Late in life. That's a big improvement. But the sad thing is that she's a Republican. I would have hoped for a better fate for her. And I would have thought she would have been more appreciative and compassionate toward the downtrodden and the poor. Because that's exactly where she came from. Abject poverty when she was in her 20s and 30s and even 40s. But she thinks that if she could make it and pull herself up by the bootstraps, everybody can do it. She's opposed to free handouts. And she feels the rich have a right to get richer. And that if the poor stay poor, it's the fault of the poor themselves. My sister thinks I'm a kook. Because I am sympthetic to socialists and I'm anti-Republican. But hey, we're talking to each other. In pleasant and delightful ways. And she's well aware that she may some day find herself in a novel. --Jim Broede