Amy Anderson: I'm Amy Zadeik Anderson.
Anastasia Hipkins: And I'm Anastasia Zadeik Hipkins.
Amy Anderson: She especially came in this week to do this recording, as well as join me with my book club. One of the things I'm most proud about, it's like super fun to be able to say "this is my sister the author".
Anastasia Hipkins: Oh my gosh. Alright, one of the things that I wanted to talk about today is how lucky we are. I am the fourth of five children. We all get along really well.
Amy Anderson: We do.
Anastasia Hipkins: I think partly because we were so close in age.
Amy Anderson: To me, a lot of it is: when we were young, and we moved to Illinois, we had Joel, a biracial young man—our parents took in as a foster child—and he became our brother. So many of our neighbors were really upset because they had moved from Chicago because they did not want to be around minorities. So many of our neighbors wouldn't let their kids come and play with us.
Anastasia Hipkins: We were a very tight family. What I remember is that we—we did everything together as a family.
Amy Anderson: What is your favorite memory?
Anastasia Hipkins: All the summers with our kids...
Amy Anderson: The summers in Park City, just seeing the kids with their cousins; it wasn't anything necessarily super spectacular. Utah was just such a great, different escape. And it was pre-cellphone days too, so when we were there, we were just there. There was no real internet or all that stuff to continually link and tie you back to the things that kind of weigh you down. And just being able to spend time with you was always just really special.
Anastasia Hipkins: It was so great to have like two moms to do everything.
Amy Anderson: I know I remember joking, like we understood why polygamy became a thing because I was like, "Gosh, this is actually pretty nice having another wife!"
Anastasia Hipkins: Really nice having another wife!
Anastasia Hipkins: But I remember once driving with mom, when she was still living at home in Mount Prospect, and we were going to the Dunkin Donuts on the corner. And it was right when her aphasia was getting to the point where she could still sometimes put together a thought but it took her a while. We were sitting in the parking lot. I asked her something. And I turned to look at her and I could see her thinking and trying to find the words, and I saw the light go out in her eyes. That was one of the saddest moments for me. Because if I was seeing that, what.. what did that feel like?
Amy Anderson: Oh, I worry every day though I have Alzheimer's. And I can just try to be as healthy as I can to avoid that.
Anastasia Hipkins: Right. Yep, yep, yeah. And I've talked about different ways that we can keep our minds sharp, and one of them is to try learning new things.
Amy Anderson: Like a new language, or...
Anastasia Hipkins: New language, new instrument. So how's the cello coming along?
Amy Anderson: I got this cello and it just sits there like taunting me. I've taken it out twice.
Anastasia Hipkins: I think though and when I have to say... it says "think about a favorite memory"... One of my favorite memories just visiting mom, when she was in the memory care. I don't think she knew who we were. But she knew that we were like people that were important to her. And they were playing music from like post World War II and 50's, And you turned to me and you whispered "When we're in here, they're going to be playing the Rolling Stones." It was one of those moments when we could find some lightness there. And that was... that saved us so many times in life.
Amy Anderson: There's this song that I turn to. One of the lines is "Did I learn to love and did I point to you enough?"
Anastasia Hipkins: And there's that famous quote by Maya Angelou. "It's not what you did or what you said. It's how you make people feel."
Amy Anderson: Well you make me always feel loved and special.
Anastasia Hipkins: I think the biggest gift that my parents gave us was each other.
Amy Anderson: Yeah.
Anastasia Hipkins: Can never take that away.
