Today is my sister’s birthday. Kristine would have been 37 years old. In the nine years that she has been gone, I have missed her every single day. In the first few years of her passing, I couldn’t even function on her birthday and the anniversary of her death. I would take the day off and disconnect from everyone (excluding the kids because I still had to be a mother). After extensive therapy to deal with losing one of the most important people in my life, I realized that I was doing her an injustice by getting depressed and becoming a shut-in for the month of January. My sister would not want that for any of her loved ones. Instead, Kristine would want us to celebrate and remember her.
After work, I went and got three chocolate bundt cakes to honor my sister on her birthday. This girl was obsessed with candy and chocolate. If I wasn’t trying to lose weight, I would have also bought a bunch of candy, especially those sour apple licorice, and just eaten them. When she was stationed in Afghanistan, I always made sure to add those to the care packages I sent her. She would send the kids a box full of candy. Kristine loved dancing and would have been a Selfie Queen. She was one of the only people I could talk for hours with and never get bored. We exchanged our ideas and respected if we had a difference of opinion. I thought she was one of the most exotic, beautiful, and smartest people I have ever known.
I miss her tremendously, but it helps finding ways to remember her with other people than to be alone and sad.
Happy birthday Kristine! I love you very much.
