Katie Bug

WARNING!!!!!! MAJOR SAPPY ALERT!!!!

I have a unique relationship with my cousin, Kate. We are the only two grandchildren from a very small family. Growing up, we saw each other at least once a week. Every Friday night, we would spend the evening at the home of our grandparents, listening to vinyl records of Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady. We would dance with scarves and open our own restaurant in the basement. Summers were spent swimming in the pool in the backyard (Kate would stay in so long that her perfect little lips would turn purple from hours in the icy water) and eating the exotic mini-bagel pizzas Doddie would make for us. Saturday morning, after cartoons, Doddie and I would take her to ballet class. Years later, I remember the first time she danced the lead in The Nutcracker. I cried.

In other words, there isn’t a moment of my childhood that I can recall that Kate wasn’t part of it. She even gave me my family moniker of “B”. She is still such an important part of my life, though I don’t talk to her as often as I would like (sometimes every day, but mostly once a week).

She is beautiful, thin, tall, smart, funny, talented and popular. She has never had a pimple. Yes, at the age of 10, it was easy to resent her perfection. But then you get to a point in you life when you stop comparing yourself to others and just learn to love. I remember as an adult when I realized I was just as important to her as she is to me.

She is such a strong and independent person. I admire her greatly. I am so proud that I am her B. Even though she is three years younger than me, I learn much from her. She teaches me to be calm, not to take myself so seriously, and to respect myself. She has a passion for the environment and the world as a whole. I am the overly emotional weepy one, while she is the even tempered rock. Yin and Yang. She always listens, and loves me no matter what I say or do. She is always giving. In fact, she has spent her entire life dancing ballet, and is taking that talent and creating a free to affordable dance studio in the area of Tacoma that would be considered “inner city”. Yes, she could have just been all talk, but she is action. She is employing her private school education and using it to improve the lives of people who have almost nothing. She will bring beauty and art into the lives of little boys and girls who might have other wise been over looked because of demographics and money. She is amazing.

We lean on each other, we laugh together, we talk and share. Our lives are intertwined. Not only are we family, we are friends. She is such a blessing in my life.

I love her.