Penny is the baby of our family, being the 4th of 3 children. When our parents told the 3 of us the news of a sibling on the way, we were thrilled. This was West Virginia, and Mum must have been 33 at the time, so the West Virginia hospital folks seemed to treat her as an elderly woman giving birth at some record-breaking old age. But she relieved their concerns and gave birth to a baby girl of good health and indisputable quality.

When she arrived, she lived up to our best expectations, even if she couldn’t talk and join in with the Legos at first. But she soon caught up to us with wit and enthusiasm. She was fond of shoulder rides in the early years. It didn’t seem too long, and she kept up with us with whatever we were doing — bike rides, bush walks, family card nights.

Of course, she wasn’t a total genius. I do remember the time we were at a steak-house, and the waiter was getting the orders. For example, “And you would like?” “The ribeye please”. “And you would like that cooked…?” “Medium-rare”. He got to Penny. “And you would like?” “The porterhouse please”. “And you would like that cooked…?” “Yes please”.

But at other times, she had the intellectual edge. One night Penny and our parents watched a movie together. Though it was a family movie, it had some sort of line of innuendo in it. Penny must have reacted, and Mum rolled her eyes. But Dad must have figured he missed something. “What was that?” he asked. “Don’t worry about it, Dad”, Penny said.

Penny and Paul seemed to have a special bond of arguing over the big questions of life, such as whether gold fish preferred to nibble fingers or toes. But it must have been recreational arguing, because generally Penny was a peacemaker, a fit-in and go-with-the-flow person who was easy to get on with.

My only regret is that because of our 10-year age difference, I left home for university when Penny was 7. But, university was in Hobart, so we did enjoy reasonably regular catch-ups. Penny seemed to adore her older brother, and think I was without flaw, which is of course slightly untrue. In fact, I think one of the meanest things I have done, was to Penny. We had a family holiday to St Helens, which reunited all 6 of our family, and is a fond memory.

One evening, Penny asked me, “Craig, do you have toothpaste I can borrow?”

“Yes”, I said, and went to fetch it. In my stash, I saw 2 tubes: toothpaste, and shaving cream. After a moment of decision, I handed her the shaving cream. I thought she might read the label, and the game would be up. But she didn’t. She put shaving cream on her toothbrush, and started brushing. Her expression shifted to bewildered as her mouth started foaming up. She saw my giggles, and then she read the label.

“Shaving cream?! I thought it tasted funny!” Then she spent the next couple of minutes trying to wash out her mouth, even though it was already very clean. Somehow, despite her being a victim, she took it amazingly well, and still apparently looked up to her big brother. But I decided not to do any such thing to her again.

As far as milestones of life go, probably the biggest has been meeting Nick and sharing their life together. It’s been good to see their shared life, values, care for the environment, care for the community, care for their boy and care for each other.

We’re glad of their adventure in Finland, though we missed them. They’re safely back, and brought back their own delightful fellow who brings a new generation of joy to the family. Now we’re glad they’re closer by, and we can see more of her family.

Congratulations Penny on this latest milestone of life. May you have many more.