Happy Birthday M..(Auntie Karate)!

Mom's hijacking my blog today, with good reason...


This is my sister, who you all know as Auntie Karate. She's 8 years younger than me, but she's taller than me. She had earaches the first three years of her life, and screamed bloody blue murder the whole time. She was incredibly curious and very smart. She was a real pain in the neck. She was the kind of person who would fall going up stairs. She had (and still has) her own opinions about everything, and has no problem expressing them. She's not interested in cooking, and will never give me a quilt block the size I ask for. She always makes it bigger, and it's never "square." ("You can fix it," she says.)

But if anybody... ANYBODY, says one negative thing about her in my range of hearing, well, they'll have ME to contend with, and I don't have a black belt...

My sister is The Bomb. She is Terrific. She is very generous and she has a heart of solid gold. She has her feet planted more firmly on the ground than a great many people I know. I trust her implicitly, and with my life. I have more fun with her than with anybody else.

She started taking karate lessons when she was 40. And let me tell you, she was a klutz of the highest order, so it was really hard. How many people undertake a new physically demanding activity at 40 which they know will require at least 5 years to master? Not many, I'll bet. But she persevered, because determination is one of the things she has in spades.

We get along very well, although you might not think so to listen to us. The ladies at the local fabric store refer to us as "the Bicker Sisters." We think that's hilariously funny.

I could tell you any one of a number of funny stories about her as she was growing up. But she'd just turn around and tell you something embarrassing about me, so I decided instead to tell you all how crazy I am about her, how much I love her, and how she's my very best friend. Plus I'd be wicked lonely without her.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie Pie! I love you very much!

Go on over to the Devil Dog and wish her a Happy Birthday!