As most of you know, Barb is my sister. We grew up in the same household but our experiences in that house were nearly total opposites. You could say we grew up at the same address but in very different houses. But we both survived the madness and lived to tell.
Barb came down from her home in Minnesota the week of the surgery to be there with me in the hospital and to help me the week after the surgery. A huge chunk of time from her very busy life. What an enormous gift to me.
Let me tell you about my amazing sister. She is clearly the most capable woman I know. She can do it all and do it VERY well. She cooks and cleans and organizes and reads voraciously. She dresses just right for every occasion, she’s beautiful and patient and incredibly intelligent. She takes amazing care of her family, does all the right things for every occasion and holiday AND she works full time!!!!
Barb was there at the hospital every single day. She took care of all the details that I wasn’t “with it” enough to think about. She toted all my stuff because I couldn’t lift things after the surgery. She walked all around that huge hospital, she kept in touch with everyone who wanted to know how I was doing and she did it all with a cheerful disposition and a smile on her face even though I knew she was exhausted.
THEN when I was sent home she went to work around here helping me with everything because there wasn’t a lot I could do for myself. We laughed and got soaked the first night I was home as we attempted to wash my very dirty, grungy, bed head hair. She helped me get up from my chair and out of bed even in the middle of the night when I need to use the facilities. She brought me food and drink and whatever I needed.
And while she was taking care of me and my house and all that was a part of getting me taken care of, she was baking dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies. And not just simple little drop cookies - these are beautiful cookies with many steps to the baking process and frosting afterwards and rolling some in nuts and others had hidden mint surprises in them. They were equally as tasty as they were beautiful. She is the most amazing cookie maker I’ve ever known. We had an Aunt Martha who baked wonderful cookies but I think Barb has Aunt Martha topped!
So I watched my sister in this whole process (after all I didn’t have much else to do but sit and observe!) and marveled at her ability to accomplish so much in one short day. She is an amazing and extremely capable woman and I am proud to have her as my sister and so very grateful for all that she did for me.
This is my tribute to my lovely and wonderful sister.
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