Today is my aunt Bonnie’s 75th birthday! Bonnie is my mom’s older sister. There were just the two of them and Bonnie was a big part of our lives growing up because she and Mom were close and we usually lived pretty close to them.

She is the polar opposite of my mom. Mom was always a dreamer, a little flighty – kinda like me. Bonnie represents a calm steadiness to me. When I was in bootcamp, our drill instructor asked us if we had to be in a foxhole with any woman who would we choose? I chose Bonnie.

Which bothered my mom. But I knew that if I were in a foxhole with my mom we’d probably end up getting our heads blown off and my best chances lay with her sister.

When I was young, Bonnie was a teacher. When I was in 5th grade, my regular teacher had to have surgery and Bonnie was put into our room as a long term substitute. One of my other uncles and aunt lived in Hawaii at the time and we happened to be studying Hawaii in school. When she called me out with this fact in front of my classmates, painfully shy little me wanted to just crawl under the table and die. I cried. I think that’s the only bad memory I have of Bonnie. 🙂

Last October, when I went out to be with Mom, I feel like I bonded even further with Bonnie. During the whole of Mom’s illness, death and aftermath, Bonnie did the heavy lifting. Oh we moved the furniture, but she handled the housing, insurance, funeral, etc. The heavy stuff. The hard stuff. She was there when I called, when I needed a shoulder.

I want to take today to tell you just how special Bonnie is to me and how blessed my sisters, brother and I are to have her in our lives.

I love you, Bonnie. May your day be as special as you!