It’s a time to be thankful and so for this post, I’m going to write about my sister Cathy (who now goes by the name of Catherine, but you’ll always be Cathy to me.)
Cathy and I are 18 months apart. Close enough to be competitive in all things, far enough apart to always give her the advantage. When one of us won at a competition, we made sure the *entire* household knew about it.
Never was this more obvious than when we sat down to color in our coloring books. Invariably there would be a page where you were supposed to circle your name, you know, your very own name. The pages were always filled with names like Sally, Tommy, Billy, and, yup, you guessed it Cathy.
Never, did I ever find the name Wendy. Back in the day, it just wasn’t a common name.
And Cathy never let me forget it as she circled her name first in blue and then in red, and finally in green.
Oh sure, I could kick a ball further than her and climb higher on the tree across the street but she could find her name in the coloring book and I couldn’t.
I was never going to win that one.
She even got a tiny blue license plate for her bike that said “Cathy.”
I got nothing. Do you know how invisible you feel when you can’t find your name?
Which is why, the gift I got this week from my sister is so exciting.
Cathy sent me a mug. On one side was this:
Which although is nice, is not such a big deal. I mean we both went to Sea World when we were kids but it wasn’t the highlight of my life.
But then I turned the mug around and saw this:
Which is a big deal! FINALLY, my sister has acknowledged that my name is on something, she had made me a contender.
This mug is officially now my favorite mug.
She also sent me this:
It’s a “W” cut out of a real Reader’s Digest Condensed book. (Some genius actually found a use for those book!)
It’s a book, a “W”, and something that is repurposed. As far as I’m concerned, Cathy hit the trifecta on this one. She knows me, she knew that this is something I would love.
And I do. It sits on a shelf in my office near Fatti-Maddi and my tiny (tiny) house.
And so this season, among the many, many other things I am grateful for, I’m grateful for my sister.
For finally righting a terrible wrong in the coloring book world. For remembering what was and for paying attention to what currently is.
I love you Cathy – now meet me out back with a playground ball, we’ve got some kicking to do.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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