Jamie's tribute to Kimberly :-)

Subject:
Re: Kimberly's tribute
Date:
4/18/2009 10:36:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Mommy,

I logged in and looked everywhere to see where to post an entry to the blog. I see Christie is a contributor, but I do not appear in the list. I may just be too tired to figure it out. Anyway, here is the bat story, too late to include but told for posterity:

We moved to Jessamine Road when Kimberly was 8, Michelle 6, and I was 2. It was a three bedroom house, so of course Kimberly as the oldest got her own room and I shared a room with Michelle. We all lived there for 10 years (16 actually :-), so I lived there longer than I have lived anywhere, and I have fond memories of my time growing up there playing/fighting/bothering my sisters.

I have three stories from that time that for some reason really stuck with me:

1. Initially, whenever our parents went out by themselves we had a babysitter stay with us (no grandparents just minutes away). Eventually however, Kimberly was deemed old enough and responsible enough to allow her to stay home with Michelle and I without a babysitter. It was during this time that I remember coming home from school and being forced to watch General Hospital instead of cartoons because Kimberly and Michelle were bigger and stronger than I was. However, we were not supposed to watch TV at all without an adult in the house, so invariably Daddy would come home, feel the TV, and pronounce that we had broken the rules because the TV (a big picture tube) was still hot! I think Kimberly and Michelle probably shared the corners on opposite sides of the front door in the foyer for that one--I had already been punished by being forced to watch that silly stuff to begin with!

2. As siblings, we all fought each other from time to time. However, one day in particular I remember Kimberly and Michelle were fighting in Michelle's room really badly and I was upset and wanted them to stop so they would not hurt each other. I had the fabulous idea of throwing a snow globe at them to make them stop. I succeeded in taking a chunk out of the back of Michelle's head (I think it was her) and did in fact stop the fight. I know it was wrong, but I never remember them fighting like that again!

3. Finally, at some point in time I grew to the point that sharing a room with Michelle did not make a lot of sense. So Kimberly moved into a MFROG (Mostly Finished Room Over Garage). She had a white four poster bed, a linoleum floor, and lots of closets under the eaves of the house. However, since she was upstairs, one wall of her room was next to the attic door and the attic fan. Unfortunately for her, at one point bats managed to work their way into our attic through a whole in a screen in an attic vent. This led to the following inevitable story. One night we were all sleeping soundly when Kimberly woke up screaming. We all ran to her room and were informed that there was a bat flying around in her room that had woken her up. We (well not me--bats are scary for kids) went upstairs and looked all over for the bat, which was nowhere to be found. After checking everywhere and making sure the attic was closed up tight, we all headed back to bed. Kimberly went to get into bed and screamed again, as the bat flew out from under her covers where it had been stuck after she had flung her covers back to run out of her room the first time. I was still at the bottom of the stairs and probably screamed myself as the bat proceeded to swoop down the stairs toward me. Needless to say, it was difficult for all of us to go to sleep again that night!

Ultimately, I looked up to both of my sisters and saw them both aspire to do great things. This encouraged me to try things myself and not give up just because things were not easy. I now know that this aspiration is a key ingredient that separates leaders from followers, and as a manager of a team of people, I know how important it is to always try harder, always try to improve, never wait for someone else to tell you what to do next!!!

Love,
Jamie