Happy Birthday My Sweet Sister

Today would have been my sister Sue's 57th birthday. She passed away very suddenly 5 years ago this August, the 9th. I've been thinking about her a lot lately. As any anniversary of this sort rolls around, thoughts of good times past seem to occupy one's mind.

Sue was one of a kind. When she entered a room, everyone knew that she was there, the party could start. She made the best potatoes, the funeral kind. She always had the best holiday accessories from sox to goofy jewelery, with added hat, scarves, or whatever else it took to celebrate. If Sue had something on her mind, whether appropriate or not, she would bring it up. She didn't believe in, or have, many filters. I think we were all the recipients of that at one time or another. She had a heart as big as the world. If someone needed a place to stay, she would offer her home, even if she hardly knew the person. She had many "strays" living with her on and off, and didn't charge them a dime. She would have given the shirt off her back if someone said they needed it. She had unconditional love. She displayed that greatest of all loves, when she gave up her baby daughter for adoption. She wanted her daughter to have a mom and a dad. I hope I get to meet Joy someday to tell her about her biological mom. Sue never stopped loving Joy, or thinking about her.

But more than anything, she loved children. She would be the first to offer to babysit even if you didn't need a babysitter. She would be the first to see the babies at any family gathering, sometimes irritating the heck out of them. She would flip them upside down and then onto her shoulders. I could never do that.

But her greatest love of all was her son Ryan. She adored him! She lived for him. When life got too big for Sue to handle, she just thought of her son and he gave her strength to keep going. Ryan was just weeks away from having his first baby, Sue's first grandchild, when Sue died. It often broke my heart that she didn't get to experience in this life the one thing she loved more than anything, babies, and her own grand babies.

I miss you Sue, but I know that you are doing great! I KNOW that, and I know you are happy and at peace. Knowing that, brings me happiness and peace for you as well. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!