Happy Birthday Sister!

Today is a special day! It's my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday Mary Kathleen! I LOVE YOU!

My sister is an extraordinary woman. Four years older than me she was always my caregiver and while I don't remember it I have been told that she cared for me from the moment I arrived home from the hospital. The story as our mother would tell it went something like this...."I was standing in the kitchen cooking supper and turned around and there was Kathy, coming down the hallway with the baby. I froze afraid if I yelled at her she might drop Karen. I said to Bob...don't yell at her, just get the baby!" At four years old she loved me and while we have had our moments, I am certain that she loves me still today. Recalling fond memories of growing up with a sister is easy. I remember how she would take me down in the floor and dangle and spit wad over my face...gross I know...but it is one of those memories. I remember go shopping with her at "Clothes Quarters" one of our all time favorite places to shop. We would also shop at Value Village which normally included a trip to McDonalds for those new chicken nugget things! Thats' right, I remember when Mcd's introduced the now famous NUGGET! Another favorite memory of mine was sharing a bedroom with her. There is nothing quite like sharing a bedroom with a sister. We would lay in bed at night and play the "radio game". No one else ever played this game because we "invented" it! We would also watch TV in bed using both an imaginary TV and remote control! Time passed rather quickly and I remember her in high school. She was popular, well liked by her friends and teachers. Kathy was the stats keeper for the football team and I think she may have even done some time keeping swim times for the swim team. I remember her getting ready for dances and proms and wishing I were as grown up as she was. Right out of school she went to work for a local fertilizer company. She did well there and truth be told her job kept our family afloat at times. I loved this time of our relationship because she was "grown up" and I wasn't. She would spoil me with those Saturday shopping trips to Lafayette and she always bought so that made it more exciting for me! She met the man that would become her husband and the best things that came from that relationship is her two beautiful children Kurtis and Caitlyn. Her marriage ended and that was a rough time but she is a strong, determined woman and she was not bound to let a failed marriage hold her down. She picked herself up and started all over again.
We often joke that we are so different yet so much the same. I do not deal well with the big things in life. Things like death of family members. Kathy on the other hand was with both my father and brother when they took their last breaths. That is how she is. I would describe her as TOUGH. She knows what needs to be done and then deals with the situation head on. Now, with that being said, do not let her lawn mower break down or let her get cut off in traffic because she does not deal with those day to day things at all! I would say "crap, the mower isn't working" but she would be much more descriptive and probably use language that would rival a sailor!

The loves of her life are her children. She adores everything about them but what mother doesn't? Raising the kids on her own gave her a special bond with them. Probably more with Cait than Kurt because he was a senior in high school when the marriage ended. Caitlyn truly became her best friend and that friendship continues today. Our relationship continues to grow now that we are both grown. We are better friends now than we ever were then and our friendship continues to grow daily. I love you sister and that will never change! Happy Birthday!