Stanley talks about his sister Debbie's stubbornness and her lack of interest in cleanliness !!

My earliest memory of Debbie begins before she was born. I clearly remember a conversation I had with our father. I sat on the steps leading up to the second floor of our house on Madison Street in Washington. He told me that now that I had a little sister he wanted to know what name we should give her.

I was five years old and I was in love with a girl in my kindergarten called Ruthie, and from there Debbie got her official name, Deborah Ruth. Ruth named Debis.

I really remember in detail that bright morning, and I can see my father sitting below me on the stairs and talking about this wonderful new event.

When I try to think why I remember Debbie's early moments so well, it seems to me that it's because of Debbie's trait of connecting our family together. To create the sense of family that I was missing.

What I remember well even equally, though with less pleasant feelings, were the many battles we waged over who cleaned the house, especially the kitchen, before our mother returned from work.

In fact, to be more precise, these were quarrels over why Debbie refused to do anything to help clean the house !!

I think the memories reveal some basic aspects of Debbie's personality, which I doubt have changed much in Debbie's stubbornness and lack of interest in cleanliness !!

In the summer of 1977, I was in Israel. Zvi was a few months old and Batsheva was 4 or 5 very stubborn !! On one of the trips during my visit, Debbie, Eli and I rented a car for the Golan Heights. It was a beautiful trip and could be a story in itself. However, on the way back we stopped to visit Eli's brother - I do not remember the name of the settlement - anyway near the Jordanian border. When we got there it was already dark. Eli drove - confidently - when we actually drove to Jordan.

In a calm tone to me she suggested we might turn around. Debbie agreed, with a pleasant smile. We did so, and soon found our way to the settlement. It seems to me that this small event, was a paradigm for how they managed to live in love and a good atmosphere throughout their beautiful marriage.

Stanley Wolf