The Best Sister In The Whole Wide World!

I never had a sister. Never, that is, until I met Karen. She was Cindy's sister first, but now she is mine, too.

To say she is kind, considerate, thoughtful and funny wouldn't even begin to cover it. She is warm and compassionate. She is nonjudgmental and strong. She would give the shirt off her back - and has. Best of all, she cracks me up.

In the last year, Cindy and I have been through hell. Cindy has been hospitalized 3 times, had 2 operations and a lot of pain and recovery. I went through fertility treatments, and they wreaked havoc on my body. Before I even got pregnant with the twins, I was on bedrest. The pregnancy was difficult, I spent a lot of time feeling sick and weak and off my feet. A lot of people stepped up in a way we had not expected and we are very grateful for all that everybody did.

But Karen did what sisters do - without being asked, without complaints and with a huge smile on her face, while asking what more she could do. She took Olivia to stay with her when Cindy was in the hospital - all 3 times. If it stopped there, I would owe her big time, but it didn't. When I was pregnant, she offered to take her again and again. Cindy was exhausted from working 60 hours a week and taking care of me at night and on the weekends. Karen knew it and gave us a break more times than I can count. She was a Godsend. It was a place Olivia could go and have fun from morning til night and still stay on her schedule (sort of). I mean, Aunt Karen is a blast and any kid who WANTS to take a nap or go to bed on time when she is at Aunt Karen's house would be a fool. But Karen made sure she napped and went to bed and got enough sleep so she wouldn't come home all screwed up. She made sure she had great snacks and ate fruits and vegetables and, of course, lots of mac and cheese. Boy do we love mac and cheese!

Then the babies came and all seemed to be back to normal, as much as it could be with a 3 year old and newborn twins. Everything was going along, life was good, but we were tired and in desperate need of "something", though we didn't know what.

Then it came. The letter. Notification actually; that we had won some sort of prize. As I read it, my pressure started rising and welling up inside me was a huge WAHOOOOOOOOOOO! I yelled out to Cindy and jumped around and screamed like a crazy woman. You will know exactly why when you read it. You will have to click on it to see the full blown image so it's large enough to read. #2 is not visible because it is "EYES ONLY" - sorry.


So there it was, a gift from the Heavens. We checked out a lot of places and hotels and flights. As it turns out, 2 nights became 4 and we are going to Puerto Rico for our 5th anniversary in September. Karen happily agreed to the extra time and, as an added bonus, she insists she will have the twins sleeping all the way through the night by the time we return. Is there a better gift than that? I mean, if that were the only reason she were coming, I'd go sleep in the streets while she accomplishes that task.
But as it turns out, we will not be sleeping in the streets. If we had to pay for this trip, we might be, but with a little resourcefulness, we are going to have a great time and not worry one iota about money. We cashed in ALL our credit card points for the flight and got the cheapest room in a very expensive hotel/casino/spa. The room is GORGEOUS. As a summer special, we will get a $100 credit to use anywhere in the hotel, AND the spa in the hotel takes Spa.Finder gift certificates. Why is this important, you ask? Because my brother and his partner gave us 4 gift certificates for Christmas last year, which we have not used. Hot stone massage on the beach...here I come!

I would have posted a picture of my beautiful Karen, but she has yet to approve one for publication. When she does, I will put it up.

Thank you, sister - for everything!

Hugs and Kisses,

Elyse

PS - Isn't fun the best thing to have?