Happy Birthday Amy.

Okay...I'll get back to the wedding weekend later...it was terribly depressing.

Today is my sister Amy's birthday - today she turns 36. I'm sure it's a very tough day today for her, basically being the closest to my mom.

Amy hasn't been as fortunate as the rest of us kids. My brother and I both left college before finishing because we got into the IT world. My sister Christine got married and moved across the river to Windsor. I got married in 95, Christine got married in 96, and Jerry got married in 98. Christine had a daughter (Mairi) in 2000, then Caileigh in 2002. We had Chloe in 04, and Jerry had his son Ethan in 05. Jerry and his wife April are now expecting their second child in August.

Amy never did well at school, so I think she only took a few college classes. She didn't luck into any good jobs like Jerry and I did. So she was at home until probably 4 or 5 years ago. She's had some medical problems - thyroid problems, bell's palsy which hasn't entirely gone away, weight issues, depression.

Amy moved out...maybe at the age of 31...buying a small house very near my parents. I know she felt embarrassed at living at home at her age, so it was very important for her to move out. Her best friend Dawn moved in with her. She started puttering around outside and put in a garden, much like my mom had at her house. They'd compare, trade, give each other garden advice.

My parents started going to a nearby church about 7-8 years ago. Amy was kind of depressed - a lot of it had to do with not being married and having kids. Of any of us kids, we've always felt that Amy would be the best with kids. She's the most considerate, caring, thoughtful of us. As we've each had kids, Amy has been GREAT Aunt Amy. She just loves taking care of the kids. Which made it so tough for her to see us all have spouses and kids.

My mom talked Amy into going to their church, sort of help Amy with the way she felt about things. Amy started going, and she really enjoyed it. As much as anything else, she really enjoyed the community. She made a lot of friends...and my mom and her actually shared a bunch of friends.

Amy lost a lot of weight over the last couple of years. She's exercising more. She'd walk over to my parents house, even in the winter. She liked a guy at church, but he kind of played a lot of games with her. But she got out there and started living. She was proud of her house, and really loved to work in the garden. She was really building up her self-esteem.


Amy was the closest with my mom. Amy called my mom probably 4-5 times a day from work, just to say hello, BS. She'd stop over my mom and dad's house probably every day. They went to church together, and did a lot of the church activities together. They went shopping together. Gardened together.


I'm sure this is Amy's sadest birthday.