It’s a beautiful day today.
It’s been raining cats, dogs, longhorn cattle and armadillos all night long in the north of Texas, decorated with streaky lightning and accompanied by the timpani of repeated rolls and crashes of thunder, and the front yard is now a series of canals and minor swamps, the back patio steps a reflecting pool high as my ankles. The grey felt of the sky remained uninterrupted in its scowl from imperceptible dawn to murky dusk, and the low-hanging clouds coughed out leftovers from the night’s storms at intervals all the while. And it’s a beautiful day.
It’s my sister’s birthday. She who came next in line after me among the four woman-children born to my parents is now a year older by our reckoning and all the more beloved as each year passes. It should be no surprise that she is to me still something of a mystery and decidedly a treasure, the first of my younger sisters to be subjected to my admittedly unskilled ministrations in my first job as Big Sister, who (thankfully) proved far too strong to quail at them and yet somehow still likes me.
It can’t have been easy for her. I will never claim to have been a particularly dandy specimen of a sister to any of them, but since I was sometimes the babysitter-designate and often the closest to hand when this little one was to be led or tended, she probably bore the worst of it. That she was born beautiful, a dainty doll of a creature–despite my fond declaration of “Oh, look at the ugly little thing!” when faced with her fresh out of the delivery room where, to my childish surprise, she turned out not to look like a six-month-old cooing and coiffed infant–must have perplexed me, since I was already old enough to notice that everyone unavoidably fawned over the pretty baby and we old, used up grade-schoolers were dull goods by then.
That she quickly proved to be clever, bright, charming and unreasonably likeable, even by her sisters, could have been an annoyance. That she had interests and intelligence and exponentially increasing skills in areas that to this day remain closed doors to my would-be prying mind (have I mentioned math lately? Sports?? ) could have been supremely irritating and possibly deserving of sisterly sabotage. That she did all of this and much more while remaining cheery and likeable could have simply driven us all over the cliff.
But aside from the inevitable struggles of a girl who discovered she was not only wise and talented and admired, but in extraordinarily different ways from the rest of us and who was additionally a frightful perfectionist and self-critic, she had the Secret Weapon few can wield: she was, and is, a bringer of light.
There are certain people who brighten the room merely by vacating it, and then there are those special, miraculous few who can do the reverse magic. My sister is one of the latter rare creatures. I have often thought that it is no coincidence that from when she was quite tiny her favorite color was yellow. The color we associate with sunshine and happiness and precious gold. She is a ray of human light and when I think of how fortunate I am to have three incredibly dear sisters and among them, this incandescent bit of sweetness, I am suffused with sunlight myself.
Happy birthday, dear Sister, and long may you shine. You are a gift and a golden treasure, and loved more deeply than a few words can ever say.
Art-Colored Glasses 
Happy Birthday to your sister. (:
And long may YOU shine too, Kathryn. ❤
My dear ‘Nessa, I see that you have received and passed along the Candlelighter Award, and I think it’s very fitting that with the difficult topics you address so poetically and open discussions of on your blog, you are indeed a bringer of light yourself.
xo!
I enjoyed the big drink all of the beds received today. What a timely post, my younger sister ages up this week. Your words are so true…..thanks.
I would like to officially pat you on the back;
I have enjoyed reading your blogs and feel that you deserve additional recognition. So, you have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by little ole me – As explained to me to accept the award; (1) You must list 7 random things about yourself that people don’t know, (2) nominate bloggers to receive the award. I see people nominating 4 to 10 bloggers and (3) post a picture of the award.
Bishop
Thank you so very much, Bishop! I am honored at your sharing of the VBA and will saddle up for the response shortly. In the meantime, thank you again for (ahem!) digging up the Denton garden group number for me. Yes, as much as this inundation was perhaps a little overenthusiastic in its pounding of some areas, I am mighty grateful for it and enjoyed the show it put on for us!
Kathryn
What a beautiful tribute to your sister! Warmest wishes to her and to you for sharing this touching post!
Thank you! I’ll be sure she gets all of the shared goodwill too!
How lovely, she is so lucky to have survived your tender administrations so that you could get together as growed-ups and dodge armadillos on her birthday. I hope you can get together, but if you cannot I hope you all have a fun time anyway.. c
She’s back home in Seattle dodging the remnants of the snow and ice there, but I got to have a lovely phone chat with her last night. I didn’t know then to tell her that I learned from this morning’s paper that the local rain extravaganza actually flooded the park where she and her family and I went on a fun run/walk when they visited us last summer! Guess I’ll just have another excuse for a visit. 🙂
What a lovely tribute to your sister, Kathryn, and she is also lucky to have you! Your image of her is adorable and the other images are gorgeous! I have to share a poem I dedicated to my two sisters; I think you’ll enjoy it and can relate, since we both have great sibling relationships:
http://lscotthoughts.com/2011/11/16/note-to-sis..
Have a wonderful day! xx
Yes, aren’t we the lucky ladies, you and I! I enjoyed your sisterly poem immensely–thanks for sharing it with me!
xoxo
I think she is such a lucky little (grown up) girl to have had you for a sister. I wonder what your favorite color was growing up? Perhaps it was gold because everything you touch, hug, write, draw or photograph turns out sparkly bright and magical:) happy Birthday to your sweet sister.. Wishing you both many More magical birthdays!xoxox Smidge
You are such a sweetheart–but gold was far from my favorite, if only because as people do, I gravitated toward colors that I could comfortably *wear*–and I think I mentioned hereabouts recently how sadly unfit I am to wear “warm” colors, especially yellows. Little Sister could wear ’em, but not I. I went through a pretty long period in youth of having a color Triumvirate as my favorite, so interchangeable in my affections that I kind of said it as though it were one color: PurpleBlueandGreen.
I’m pretty much crazy about all colors nowadays, but still am especially attracted to those (appropriately?) peacock colors, I think. 🙂
Such a wonderful tribute….You made me missed my sister…Thanks for the post!!! lovely!!
Thank you, Nors! I hope at least you can visit with your sister in your heart, if not in person. My 3 sisters all live thousands of miles away now, but we remain close, and I am very grateful to be so fortunate!
How delightful. I am sending a virtual bouquet of yellow roses as a happy birthday tribute. Please enjoy and pass them on with my good wishes.
Thank you, dear Bella, I *will*.
You paint with words a very vivid picture of a Texan storms. I wish your lover-of-yellow-and-bringer-of-light sister a very Happy Birthday.
I shall tell her of your good wishes, dear friend! Yes, we did get a story-worthy storm out of this one. 🙂
Happy Birthday to you Sister, dear Katryn, and long may you both shine!
This was a beautiful post… Thank you,
with my love, nia
Thank you, my Muse! Have you any brothers or sisters yourself?
Bless you, Nia!
Kathryn
Happy birthday to your sister. This was a very thoughtful, vivid post. I really enjoyed the read. Thank you.
Thank *you*, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Happy to have you visit here!
What a lovely tribute to your sister. I know that the rain was very welcomed even if it came as a storm. All of Texas has been suffering though such a terrible drought.
Yes, even though we are in the least hard-hit part of the state, it takes only a day of rain to see how the earth responds and unfolds from its fetal position a bit. Floods or not, we can use more of this.
It’s a little like not having gotten to visit on the phone with my sister in a couple of months and then talking to her and laughing with her when we spoke last night!
What lovely words and thoughts for your sister…
It’s my dearest wish that someday my two girls will look back on their growing years with fondness…and the “Remember that time you tried to beat me to death with the hairbrush?” will be relegated to Amusing Anecdote status.
Happy Birthday, Kristen, you lucky girl!
There are certainly plenty of memorable Incidents in the sisterly history the 4 of us share that are now on that Amusing Anecdote list (a few of which took longer than others to graduate to funny-ness from their previous status!!). I strongly suspect that your girls, being *your* girls and raised by *you*, will have no problem achieving the same sort of happy adult friendship!
A beautiful tribute. Happy Birthday to your sister! 😀
Thank you, Eve! I’ll share your good wishes with her.
This was particularly evocative and beautiful: “and the low-hanging clouds coughed out leftovers from the night’s storms at intervals all the while.” We were drenched with the wet stuff here in south Texas as well, which was immediately followed by a dip in the temperature, taking us from the upper 70’s back down to the low 40’s. Having once lived up north, I crave those cooler temperatures that in south Texas pass for winter. If the rain allows them to return for a few days, then I welcome every drop.
This was a wonderful tribute to your sister. I have a couple of big sisters, but no younger sisters, so I’ve only ever been on one side of that sister equation, (although I do have a younger brother, so I was somebody’s big sister, but it’s not quite the same). I love it that you surround your descriptive memories of your sister with an incandescent light that brightens the world around her. What a lovely way to share your love. Beautifully written.
I know that very few are so privileged as I’ve been, so I see this blog as a forum for letting the less blessed share vicariously in the wealth. I’ve come more and more to see the blogging community, especially those friends who really communicate and commune with each other through stories and comments, as a kind of extended family and one with whom I can share my small sorrows and my great joys. I’m glad you’re here!
I dunno, Kathryn. One might argue that your form of older sisterhood was perfect for your younger sister, along the lines of that which does not kill her makes her stronger. The wonderful results of your stewardship speak for themselves. Which begs the question, was so loving and beautiful a tribute a good idea?
Hey, I gotta tell her I inoculated her! Maybe not–I think she was the one of the four of us who most hated getting vaccinations. We’ll just let my good work lie. 😉
What a lovely tribute. I love this line “There are certain people who brighten the room merely by vacating it, and then there are those special, miraculous few who can do the reverse magic.” I have 3 beautiful sisters (and one pretty great brother), and man… what a blessing.
To be a bringer of light- if we all just strove to achieve this!
A torch we ought to try to carry and pass along indeed. 🙂
I’m glad you have had the joy of great siblings, too. Pretty hard to beat such a gift, no?
A beautiful tribute to your much loved sister – it sounds like you are both very lucky to have each other and to be part of a loving family! It´s the best 🙂
I marvel every day at how fortunate I am to have a really, truly great family, both born and married. Yes indeed, it *is* the best!
Feliz lantana
A tu hermana.
😉
Y las flores silvestres,
A usted, como postres.
(I doubt that’s anywhere close to grammatical, and I thought “dessert” made a better rhyme than “your piece of the birthday cake”.)
Guess I’d better *learn* some Spanish before I try rhyming in it!! But I loved your “flowery verse” couplet and will pass it along!
You came back with a nice reply: good for you.
I chose lantana because of your picture of it.
what a beautiful (and undoubtedly true) tribute to your sister! Tell me, dear Kathryn, what was it like growing up in a whole house made of gold? Maybe I should ask your neighbors who basked in the light continually! but ask any of us here, us happy followers of Kathryn the gold, and we’ll tell you – it’s pure loveliness!
Antoinette, you make me blush! As it happens, this was a whole house made of *Wold* (my maiden name), and as such, as multi-colored (tutti-fruity?) as they come–and that, for me, was a *very* good thing!
xoxo
On the first – I love storms and the rain. And the rest – thanks for sharing the bouquets of flowers, words, and love for your sister with us.
Yes, a good storm can be so comforting in an odd way. Certainly energizing! I’m happy so many of you good friends showed up for the little party I threw for Little Sister! 🙂
Sisters are a treasure. I need to call mine and tell her that!
I’m so very glad to hear you have a treasured sister too! Each of us can help the other bear life’s burdens in some unique and powerful ways, sometimes without even knowing it. 🙂
The lantana was a perfect choice for your sister and your family. Hope you both have a wonderful day.
Thank you, Phil! We had our respective wonderful days too many miles apart, but got to have a very welcome recap of them by phone last night. Technology is a wonderful thing! But I guess I’m preaching to the choir on *that* topic, eh, Mousie? 😉
Gosh this is beautiful Katherine. You brought tears to my eyes. I have always wanted a sister and yours sounds like a treasure.
Well, we’ve managed to rope a number of “extra” sisters into our family over the years, Geni, so you can borrow us any time you like! I’m sure the tears were just from onion chopping–or did you weep with fear at the premonition I’d invite you to be my sister!? 😉
Awwwwwww Happy Birthday to your sister, simply beautiful. I suffered – and still sometimes do – under the whims and self imposed superiority complexes of my 5 older siblings (especially since the age gap started at 10 years and went up from there) being the last one hatched from the brood. I loathed and loved the ones gone and the two still with me. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
There’s really nothing else like it, is there! My mom is one of 6 also (eldest) and has lots of tales to tell as well. 🙂
a lovely letter to a sister. I say lucky her 🙂
I say Lucky *me*! I got *three* standout sisters! 😀
what a TRIBUTE. fantastic. fabulous. i especially liked the heading … “Bringer Of Light”. She is lucky to have you in life. God bless her, you and your family.
Thank you kindly, G! We *are* pretty blessed to have each other! Many blessings to you and yours, too.
This tribute to your sister made me all teary. Then I started to think about how much I love my own and only sister, and then the tears started to flow. Thank God, I don’t wear makeup! Sisters are so blessed to have each other, and I think yours is a blessed as you!
We are very fortunate creatures, those of us who have dear siblings, aren’t we! On top of this, my sisters married some truly great ‘brothers’ for me!! Bonus!
xo
Having barely gotten to know you yourself, it was a challenge to try and picture your sister. But thank you for a moving post.
I hope that you know such people yourself–those whose presence alone can bring us happiness and contentment–so it doesn’t matter terribly whether you know this *specific* one. Though I think anyone who does know her fortunate! But then I’m a little prejudiced, being her sister and all. 🙂
Thanks for the loveliest birthday card ever, Big Sis! Even if I don’t live up to even half of it. 😉 Finn saw the blog on my screen and asked what it was. When I told him it was all about how wonderful I am he rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, right. What is it really?”
Well, isn’t he quite the Mr. Smarty-pants! He’d better remember whose roof he lives under and start sucking up to you a little better if he wants any woobibe pies this spring or anything! 😉 Come to think of it, maybe this year would be a perfect time for pie-baking instruction for the guys so’s they can start doing the baking for *you*!