Happy Birthday Lil Sis

A text I can’t send

To my little sis

The one I so much miss

Today is your special day

You’re someplace way too far away

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Cindy 😇 is 61 today ! Well, not really. She only made it to 55 😢. But it is still her birthday today regardless, and it will always be.

She did come into this world with a story behind it. She was the baby and destined to find mischief along the way. More often than not she’d get away with it. She started early.

Well, she really didn’t find the trouble this time, but she was, in a way, responsible. I mean, she wasn’t even born yet! See, mom 😇 and dad 😇 didn’t drive in 1964. Mom would in later life. Dad never would. So when it came time to go to the hospital, mom’s brother, my Uncle Frank 😇 was going to be the designated driver. Not for sure how, but dear Uncle Frank almost found himself in the hoosegow. So, as the story goes, he was roaming around the gangway of the 3 flat with a flashlight. One of Chicago’s finest saw the flashlight and thought BURGLAR ! Poor Uncle Frank was left to explain why he was roaming the gangway at 3am with a flashlight. What did Officer Friendly do ? Provide a police escort not to the hoosegow, but the hospital. See, starting life off special, causing a stir. That was my sister.

Even after she was born, she gave mom and dad a scare. I was much too young to really know at the time, and my brother 😇 never really talked about it. But Cindy did have some breathing issues after birth. Mom and dad had gone through the same with my brother who I never knew. His breathing issues never corrected and Tommy was gone at 4 days old. Cindy’s issues did correct, she went home as scheduled and would go on from there to live what most would consider a normal life.

Cindy’s school started in kindergarten. I went straight to first grade 4 years earlier, so I missed that part of grade school. She was a little more fortunate to have that experience. I think the rest of the grammar school days went pretty much the same for us over the next few years. I think she was probably a little more popular and maybe a little more well liked in her class than I was in mine. At least it seemed that way. She seemed to talk more about her teachers, and had a group of friends she got along with and would talk about…constantly ! There came a point where she felt she was in my shadow with teachers in her later years of grammar school, didn’t really like it and said it! Yet when it came time to have her name engraved on her autograph book she chose (no joke) Little Mac !

She played softball for the grammar school and it carried on in an independent league into her high school days. She was pretty much a home body, not wandering about much and pretty much hanging with neighbors on the block in the neighborhood. She had her puppy loves in grammar school and enough boyfriends through high school to keep her honest. She managed to find her mischief, having a bike stolen after being told not to ride it to the mall, and jewelry ripped from her neck while riding the bus to school. She did the sneak a smoke and a drink in an alley someplace or in a parking lot of wherever. Damn, once she and a friend found a bottle of my brother’s expensive stuff and pretty much polished it off. When he called foul, mom gave the typical “she’s a good girl, she wouldn’t do that”. That drove my brother nuts !

She did get away with stuff - she was the baby!

Her first real job was at Baskin Robbins in the neighborhood and would eventually head to the mall and Jean Nicole. It was there she would meet her future beau, a security guard named Chuck. Honestly, they were made for each other. Within a year and my parents being shattered by it, she became a mom. The wedding was a couple of months after baby Carrie was born.

Cindy, Chuck and Carrie would sort of be nomads for a while, moving from apartment to apartment to, well, wherever. They found their way back to mom & dad after I moved out. The clan would expand with twins Cheryl and Catie, then Chris and Cory (and Gizmo the dog). All were about a year apart of each other. Somehow, some way, they all turned out to be great kids and up to now responsible adults. I guess, honestly, it’s a credit to my sister that they turned out the way they did. She knew the ropes and you could say was a classic, “do what I say, not what I do” speaking from experience kind of parent - at least in terms of them growing up.

Cindy loved dad’s bar-b-ques, family get togethers, cousins and her close friends. Much to her credit, she kept in touch with many over time better that I did. Sometimes talking to her was like getting a domestic version of the National Enquirer, since that was how I found out about many happenings and goings on. She became a big Blackhawks fan, always loved the Cubs and was a good devout wife and mom as possible to Chuck and the kids. I guess you can say a true matriarch.

At some point she went from being an old time Chicago Democrat to a prolific Trump lover. Oh to be able to sit with her, my dad and my brother these days 🤦‍♂️. There wouldn’t be enough beer to go around 🍻. We’d probably be one family that would still be able to have a civil Thanksgiving together today !

Even though she moved downstate (200+ miles), we did keep in touch. Facebook (when it was a good thing) helped, but there were always phone calls and texts, especially on birthdays and holidays. I think it’s that stuff I miss the most since she’s been gone. Our last contact was a Facebook message from her. It was simply a pic of my mom, probably from her high school days. I sent her a smile back. 2 days later she was gone. I wonder if that pic was more a message from mom than it was her.

Her last job was at Walmart. Maybe that’s why I walked through one today.

So, I can’t give a call, send a text or write a Facebook post. This is the best I can do.

Happy birthday, lil sis. Love you.