Courtney

A few times a week, I like to catch up on the blog posts at Segullah. Yesterday I was happy to read about the Valentine's post about sisterly love. I would guess that 99% of my readers know about my sister Courtney and know how close we are. It's not unusual for us to talk 3 or 4 times a day. It's a good year for us if we don't have to go more than 3 or 4 months without seeing each other (though there have been years when it's been almost monthly!) When one of us needs to talk through something and our spouse is not there or they are not concerned about the topic, usually we call each other. Some are surprised to know that we are 4 years apart. We haven't lived in the same state since 97-98 when I was a freshman at BYU and she was in her last year. (Which makes it nice since we like to buy the same clothes.) And I can only remember 2 real fights in our lives- and I only vaguely remember what one of those was about.

And while we get along almost perfectly, we are different. I was the babysitter and very into young kids. She wasn't. Yet, she is the patient, easy-going mother of five in less than five years. She an accountant; I am a teacher. I am the crier and she is the strong-one. I used to be the crafty one but she is quickly trying to take over that role. She is outgoing and can talk to anyone while I am more reserved. She the leader, I the follower.

Don't tell Erich, but I would probably say that Courtney is my best friend.

So you can imagine my concern and fear, when she called me Friday afternoon crying. I had talked to her 45 minutes before and knew she wanted to talk later about a birthday party issue. But I knew she wasn't crying over that. I knew something was wrong. And as she got out the words that she couldn't get a hold of our parents and that she was just told she needed to take Paige to the hospital because of some sort of infection. My heart broke. Not just for my sweet niece Paige but for Courtney. Because as a mom, I know how it feels to love a child. And I know how my sister loves her kids. And I could sense a little bear of fear in her voice.

But this weekend, Courtney has continued to be Courtney. She has remained strong. She has been patient in waiting for test results. She has continued to be the best mom to all 5 of her kids- making sure all their fears were calmed and that they still had Valentine's from mom and dad. And while I have wished I lived closer so that I could give Paigey and Court a hug or cleaned her house or watched the other kids, I have mainly been grateful that Courtney is my sister. That I share with her sisterly love. And that she continues to be the best example to me about how to love your kids and be a mom. And how to remain calm when things get hard. And what faith really is.