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Allison

I was the oldest sibling, and I have three younger siblings. So I was always very much a caretaker to them. And we had a difficult childhood with my parents being present and absent and lots of substance related issues. And there was one summer where my father was totally present with the family. He was kind of a different person being so present, not being on substances. He wanted to learn how to make a pecan pie. He is a latin man - women always cooked everything for him. As a young child I was told to wait on my brother, by my grandparents. He had never cooked anything in his life. He was awful at it - he tried like two times and it was really terrible. And my little sister who is like 2 years younger than me, and at the time was like 9 years old, she’s very quiet in general, a middle child. She just pushed us both out of the way and she was like, “Stop it. You both don’t know what you’re doing.” And she made a pie. She made a pecan pie. And it was good. It’s this moment that I remember seeing my little sister shove my dad and I aside and be like, ‘Shut up you both!’ It reminds me of her and a special summer in my family’s history.