#HBD: Grandma Sally

I’d be remiss telling y’all about my great-aunt/grandma Aunt C0ññ!e without mentioning *her* biological mama/older sister Cëlë$t!ñë, who goes by “Sally.”

Only about 13 years apart in age, Sally & C0ññ!e were raised as sisters. Sally was the second eldest of six sisters & three brothers (one deceased in infancy); C0ññ!e was the very last.

Out of all their siblings, Sally & her baby sister/biological daughter C0ññ!e favored the most:

Petite in stature with café au lait skin, coal-black ringlets of hair tumbling just past their shoulders, the sisters were sometimes mistaken for twins as they got older...

...Especially when their actual caregiver/birth mom, S@dië, wasn’t around.

As the second eldest & most reserved girl in a large family where both parents worked outside the home, child-rearing responsibilities often fell on Sally *alone* to handle. 

Rumors had long swirled that Sally wasn’t her (step-?) daddy J0$3ph’s child, though she bore a remarkable resemblance to S@dië, the woman who carried & birthed her.

It wasn’t until her teenage years that Sally discovered J0$3ph really wasn’t her actual father; an Italian stonemason named Giü$3ppe was her daddy, & she also had a twin sister by him & their biological (not surrogate) mom Freda, who was raised somewhere in the southern U.S.

Ever the pragmatist, Sally was *less* than thrilled to discover she had yet another sister to add to the five that already got on her last nerve (most of the time, anyway). 

...But she was curious to meet the girl they said was literally Sally’s spitting image 👀

The “secret twins” had *a lot* in common for having been raised separately: 

Both were well-known in their respective parts of the country for their spitfire wit & charm; both were highly intelligent & very wise & mature for their young ages; both were legendary beauties with a star-quality about them; & so on & so on.

The only real difference between the twins was that one was destined to be a famous entertainer; the other was cool with trying to lead a so-called “normal” life outside of the public eye.

Only problem for Sally was, in raising a child like young Aunt C0ññ!e, there *was* no so-called “normal” life to be had: 

In Sally & C0ññ!e's gossipy Washington, DC neighborhood, people had been saying Aunt C0ññ!e was the second coming of her & Sally’s ancestor--& one of their birth mom S@dië's many sisters 😮‍💨--named Carrie… 😱

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#ToBeContinued

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