Happy Birthday Mary!

Yes finally, I did and happy birthday mkm!

In a stupid stroke of genius I realized I could write something here for your birthday because it’s just as good as most anything I could mail (and I don’t have the kind of discretionary dollars to buy you a slapchop and graty…though Vince deserves the sale) anyway I realized this monumental event (and groundhog day)was coming around again and I wanted to do something.

Noone else has every had Mary K as a sister and I am sympathetic to all of you. This is the best sister anyone could have and I’ve been very grateful for the experience thus far. Although only having one sibling can sometimes be a bit quiet, it has never been dull. Growing up, our family was fortunate enough to spend loootts of time together-more than most. Though this was sometimes not quite idyllic, twenty some years have given me a pretty wide angle lens on these experiences and why they were great.

The thing I like most about her is that she has an uncanny ability to carve her life out of anything at all and brush any obstacles off like debris. When we were working at the pet shop my work ethic was admittedly still in alpha testing and more often than not i was out fishing or building forts outside; meanwhile Mary had her own department and loyal customers at a dozen years old. After that it was rowing…. four years after watching (and sometimes mocking) this kind of personal abuse I followed suit and spent my first year on the team during her last. This kept me busy and in very good shape for four years and eventually this lead to lifelong friends and other groups, something I doubt would have happened without the experience. School brought its own challenges in stacking up. Mary had a knack for setting the bar high enough to strive for but without being totally unattainable. After a year of high school I was promoted from “mary’s little brother” to “pete” and started to emulate some positive influences I had around. While I don’t think i ever quite added up to mkm status in Frau Lemon’s eyes, I did well enough to satisfy myself.

A lot of things come out of a mediocre(+) high school, Carlson being no exception, but successful Duke grads aren’t so plentiful. Mary skipped lots of easier options and went for the top. And though I know this decision hasn’t always been easy, it’s difficult to not respect. Moving far from home and taking some very difficult material takes guts and vision to get though and get through it she did. Having her so far away took plenty of adjusting and was sometimes difficult but I think we all got through it and were better for the experience. Eventually we’re all hoping to be closer together but in the meantime will be fine.

Euphemistically speaking, the economy is often said to be in a “recession” with the near 11% unemployment rate in Michigan so far. However with every new layoff and bankruptcy, many of us see this having a lot more in common with a depression. On the same note, while one might call losing your healthy dad at age 51 unfortunate; I’d be more apt to call it fucked up. Mary had to go through this recently too and it’s certainly taken a toll, especially having to be far from family. Her and dad had a very special relationship that isn’t quite as easy to pull off as a semi-troubled junior adult male. While nobody is going to handle this with perfect serenity, i have lots of respect for Mary being more honest and open about these troubles and venting them in relatively healthy ways. I’m hoping I can eventually deal with these things without being intolerable. She’s a lot more mature than her age would suggest.

I apologize for taking so long to get this blog going again. I was working on a post about a week ago that I temporarily abandoned because I found myself up late every night writing resumes and cover letters to grovel for work but am hoping to set aside more time for it here as I allocate my time a bit more wisely.

Here’s to Mary Katherine, the one who got me (quite) ready for college, superglued her hands on the steering wheel so I could have a rearview mirror in time for my drivers test, made me a blog, passed along great music (i just picked up a copy of power in numbers from j5 to replace my long missing copy), beat up anyone necessary for my sake, heck even got me on facebook back in the “thefacebook.com-no bullshit” days, and set standards that have served me very well. Thanks for being the best friend I could have and have a great birthday!!

Love,

Pete