My sister-in-law...about 35 years ago
I don’t remember the first time that I ever met Kay, but I know that I was a small child when my parents first hired her to babysit me. She’s the only babysitter that I ever remember having. I loved her from the first time I met her. She would always play with me, and I loved her very much.
I have a brother, David, who is the same age as Kay– nine years older than me. It seems he loved my babysitter as much as I did. I don’t really know the details, but the two of them met, liked each other and eventually began to date. Like soon turned to love, and the two of them became married in October of 1963–immediately after high school.
My parents always loved Kay, too. She fit into our family like she’d always been there. In fact, I can’t remember a time when she wasn’t around. She’s always seemed like a sister to me because she’s always been there. I can’t imagine my brother without her, because they’ve been together for as long as I can remember.
I was only nine years old when my brother married Kay. During my years of growing up, Kay and David would invite me to come and stay with them during the summer. We lived in Georgia and they lived in Florida. I always looked forward to those summer visits.
During those summer visits, Kay would spend a lot of time playing games with me. I remember that she had a game called “Bump” that I loved to play. Kay always planned a fun outing for me, too. She was a good cook, and I can still remember her chicken and yellow rice. Money was tight back then, and she cooked a lot of “Clark’s Burgers”. Kay could think of a dozen different ways to cook those hamburger patties–and they were all good!
I can’t think of anyone I know who loves children better than Kay does. It seemed a cruel twist of fate when it turned out that she was never able to carry a pregnancy to term. I think she endured a total of five miscarriages. It seemed as if Kay was destined to be childless, when a miracle was sent her way.
If you follow this blog, you will remember that my husband and I have an aunt and uncle in common. His aunt married my uncle. That aunt and uncle learned about a baby available for private adoption, and thought of my brother and Kay. They called David and Kay, and asked if they would be interested in becoming parents. The rest is history. David and Kay became parents of a precious baby girl in 1977, after thirteen years of marriage.
More than thirty years have passed since that day, and Kay’s been blessed to become a grandmother three times–two boys and a girl. In His time, God blessed Kay with children. She actually quit her job to be able to stay home and take care of the last two grandchildren while their mother works. She is one of the most dedicated grandmothers that I know.
Today is Kay’s birthday. It seems like just yesterday we were young, care-free, and full of fun. We’ve had a lot of good times over the years. The picture in this post was taken at Christmas in the early seventies–in the peak of those young, care-free, fun days! I hope Kay has a great birthday today, and many more happy birthdays in the future. We may not be able to kick as high as we once could, but at least we’re still kicking!
Reflections...by Kathy 
Happy birthday Kate! Hope you read how special you are!