Happy Birthday To My Sis

Today is My sister, Cathy's birthday and I am so happy to be able to wish her a very happy birthday! She truly is an awesome woman and of course, it goes without saying that she is a fantastic and wonderful sister--but even better--she is also one of the dearest and most cherished friends that I have. Cathy has a heart of gold and a soul to match. She is a kind and caring person who truly cares about those she interacts with in her life. We are all so lucky and blessed to have her to love and share this life with!

Cathy and I have known each other almost all of our lives. I'm only 19 months older than she is and truly, it seems like she has always been a part of my life and I am so very glad!

As children growing up, I remember Cat coming up with some of the most ingenious games to play when we would be bored and looking for something to do. During the long hot summers, we'd play a game that was ongoing called "boarding school" which was inspired by a book we'd read called "The Secret Language." Sometimes we'd play outside and I remember after the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" came out--we somehow managed to get hold of some ketchup and old sheets of mom's and tore up the sheets to make bandages and used the ketchup for "blood" and got the neighborhood gang over -- and entertained the people in their cars driving by our house with our antics of shooting each other with our homemade stick guns and lying "wounded" with the white bandages wrapped with the ketchup to cover our various "wounds."

Then there's the time we (Cathy and one of my other sisters) decided to jump out of our upstairs bedroom window--(I can't remember what inspired this, a dare perhaps?). Seems like we were all three going to do it, but guess who the only one was that truly jumped??? Yep--Cathy. I couldn't believe she landed without breaking any bones--but she did!

And who always came through for me when I was a teenager and had so many babysitting jobs that sometimes I would have two or three families needing me at once? I could always count on Cathy to help out and to take one of the jobs for me so I could babysit for my "favorite" family. My other sister would often step in too.

Cathy and I shared a room growing up and we used to talk late into the night -- especially on those hot summer nights when it was almost impossible to sleep anyway. She and I would talk about anything and everything. Finally, when we would be to the point of exhaustion, we'd say "goodnight"--but we had a rule that after you said "goodnight" there would be no more conversation. UNLESS one invoked "S M M--which stood for "speak my mind"--only then could the person needing to speak her mind begin a conversation again.

And of course, there was the time when we decided to move our twin beds together to make them into one big bed--but of course we still had our boundaries--heaven forbid should one of us land in or cross the "giant's crack"--("ooh gross--you're in the giant's crack!" or "eewww--you touched the giant's crack!") Only sisters can come up with something that silly and crazy and then crack up about it then and years later!

Now, don't get me wrong--Cathy and I had our moments of complete disagreement too--I remember some knock down drag out fights where we did true bodily harm to one another. Once we were fighting out on the driveway and I kicked at Cathy and she blocked it with her hand and I wound up spraining her thumb--and another time, she and I were chasing each other through the house and I slammed the door behind me, then decided to open it to see if she was still coming, but about that time, she banged the door open just in time to catch the edge of the door on my face--that left a nice little scar down the left side of my face for a few weeks....ah--sisters!!!

Fast forward to years later though...

Just recently I was in the hospital recovering from my surgery and every morning, I'd open my eyes and there was my sis--stopping by to see me and check to see how I was doing on her way to work. Each time I saw her, my heart felt so warm and so good inside--I literally felt the love my sister was sending to me from her heart and I cannot describe the comfort it gave me knowing that she cares so much about me. But the beautiful thing is, I care that much about her and about my other sisters and my brothers too. I am so very blessed

What a wonderful Blessing for me to be able to wish my sister a very happy birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHY!!! I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!