I don’t really talk about other people on this blog, because of the unspoken “don’t talk about other people” rule in blogging. But it’s time to make an exception.
I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you about Sis.
Sis is one of our office volunteers at The Chapel. She’s probably in her late 80s, but acts like a feisty 40 year old. Quick-witted, sharp, and disarmingly sarcastic. And she’s got some stories. Stories about getting her pilot’s license at 52. About being an award winning USO dancer. About life as a military wife. And about life as a kick-@%# mom.
She walked in the office yesterday with cake and ice cream. She asked me if everyone would be in that afternoon, because we were going to have a birthday party. It was Doug’s birthday.
It took me a good while to realize who Doug was.
They’d been married 65 years and, from what I’ve gathered, they were quite a pair… But he died recently, within the past few years.
About an hour after she stuck her head in my office, the rest of the staff had come in from lunch. We passed out cake & ice cream, sat down at our conference table, and sang Happy Birthday. Then we got her to tell some stories. You should’ve seen her face light up whenever she’d tell us about something he did.
I couldn’t help but think what this day meant for her, and wonder if I would ever walk in her shoes. Doug loved celebrations. At one point the conversation quieted down and she said “Well, Doug, we sure had a nice party for you” and it was all I could do not to sit there and cry.
