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Gord Riley tried his skills at log cutting with a chain saw in this event on Saturday. It was
only one of a number of sporting activities at the Colborne celebrations, which included nail
hammering, horseshoe pitching, and bale throwing. Many people of all ages took part, ts%iith
fun being the end result. (photo by Mike Ferguson)
Jeff Feagan leads the Colborne Township Tug -of-.
War team to victory in a battle against Port Albert,
in the final pull. Saturday's cvc;u at the Ses-
quicentennial celebrations saw four teams compete
in the tug-of-war, by far one of the most popular
events for spectators to watch in the hot afternoon
sun. In the photo above, a youngster waits for the
Soap Box Derby to begin Sunday and contemplates
how he'll finish in the race. (photos by Mike
Ferguson)
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POSTSCRIPT
By Susan Hundertmark
Sisters are
also becoming
good friends
There's a strange transformation go-
ing on right now in my life. It's subtle and
it's slow in its progress but I think it's
really happening. My two sisters and I,
though we haven't always had a lot of use
for each other in the past, are becoming
friends.
Sure, we've always loved each other
and we've been fierce protectors of each
other when faced with unfriendly opposi-
tion, but our periods of actually liking
. each other and enjoying each other's
company have run hot and cold.
I think our evolving friendship is a
function of our becoming adults but I
know that friendship doesn't always
naturally result from siblings growing in-
to adults. I have friends whose brothers
and sisters have never been and will pro-
bably never be particularly close. They
share the same blood and the same name'
but they're virtually strangers.
And, there have been times when I've
wondered if my family would end up the
same way. I felt particularly alienated
from my sisters during adolescence
when the usual words exchanged were
words of anger or cruelty. Doors regular-
ly slammed and the phrase, "I hate you"
was'thrown around a lot.
But then, I took the petty things in life
much more seriously. My sister ap-
proaching me in the school hallways
wearing my favorite sweater which she -
failed to ask my permission- to wear
could throw me into a seething rage.
And; I could quickly do the same to her
if I demanded in loud tones in front of her
friends ( that was the worst part) that she
take off the sweater immediately and
hand it to me. She would never comply
with my demands and the result would be
tears, threats and screamed agony at the
dinner table that night.
I'm well aware that such behavior is
normal and- ''iivideati ead'" espetih1ly
among teenaged siblings. But, it's
sometimes difficult to step past those
episodes.
I've often found it difficult to believe
that the feelings of "sisterhood" I could
easy apply to my chosen friends would
ever be shared by my actual sisters. Yet,
I think it's starting to happen.
One of my sisters spent a day with mei
while ago. We talked and walked and
talked some more and I began to be ac-
quainted with a woman I don't think I'd
ever met before.
This woman shared with me stories of
a rocky, sometimes painful adolescence
when she experimented with several life
experiences she realizesnowshe was too
young for. , -
The cocky, headstrong and intensely
private sister I had envied during high
school, shared with me her feelings of
vulnerability, insecurity and even terror
about situations- I lead thought she had
under control at the time. I was amazed
to discover she didn't.
And, I ached with the realization that
had I known, I would have been too naive
and judgemental to lend any support.
But, she survived with a minimum of
scars and that's the important part.
1 discovered I really like and admire
this woman who is my sister. And, I plan
to cultivate a closer friendship with her.
With my baby sister, I know there is an
equal but not as immediate potential for
friendship. Though there is no one in the
world who can be more fun to be around,
she is still too volatile and uncertain
about herself to refrain from lashing out
at those around her with adolescent
cruelty whenever she feels threatened.
And, to be fair, when she pushes our
buttons, we respond with the same irra-
tional childhood anger she aims our way.
The goal of friendship, I believe, is to
stop pushing, those buttons which cause
discomfort and pain in each other.
I've decided that we're often too hard
on our family members. While we accept
our friends, flaws and all, we often ex-
pect perfection from our families, And,
since no one, not even family members,
can answer all our needs and expecta-
tions, we set them up for failure. They
oblige us by not measuring up to our im-
possible standards.
And, because we care so much, we're
too quick to offer well-intentioned but in-
trusive advice and judgements. To be
friends, family members have to learn to
allow each other some privacy, some
autonomy and some room for mistakes,.
In a lot of ways, my sisters and I still
have a long way to go before we treat
each other with the respect and courtesy
we award our friends. In our lapses, we
still take each other for granted and heap
much hurtful abuse on each other.
But, we have an advantage. While
most friendships would have ended after
some of the scenes we've lived through,
we will always be sisters. And, beeause
of that, we continue to forgive and work
at the achievement of a better relation-
ship. A friendship.
And, when sisters are friends, they
sharea rich, multi -dimensional friend-
ship full of common tears, laughter, sor-
row, jay, rage and hilarity. It's well
worth working for. .
J
Ontario Minister of Health and Huron -Bruce MPP Murray Elston an-
nounced Friday night to Colborne Sesquicentemdal Chairman Shirley
Hazlitt and the crowd a $2000 grant for "Colborne Connections," the
history book of the;wpahip. In the photo above, •hordes of hungry peo-
ple gathered on Sun y to eat pancakes and sausages with pore maple
syrup. (photos by Mike Ferguson)
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