By: Patricia Francis Good

On this the occasion of your 60^th birthday party, I wanted to reflect back, for a moment, on one of the many significant contributions of your life. Perhaps you have no idea how your life has affected others. The particular point I’m about to make is one that I have thought about for years, but never told you. 

Growing up with you was perhaps a time in our lives that was as rewarding as it was challenging.  I know that the “cheerleader” who resided within you was not afforded the opportunity to find the financial nor emotional support necessary to secure the place on the cheer leading squad where you belonged.  You got cheated – no doubt about it! And this injustice was a painful memory, to both you and me, as I watched your disappointment and loss of self-esteem. 

How terribly painful and cruel those teenage years must have seemed to you as you bounced around trying to find where you fit after this great disappointment. But, you did in fact find your way to the Pep Squad Drill Team where I watched you shine like a beautiful twinkling star in your high school senior year. What a joy it was to watch you proudly march into the high school gym and “dance.”  You were the prettiest girl and best dancer on the floor!

The ironic part of your life is that your true passion was not for “dancing” but for “singing”.  I was always so in awe of your ability to find a pitch and a harmony.  How did you do that?  None of us could ever understand this God given, special talent that you alone possessed in our family.  Through the dish washing, the family vacations, riding to and from church, the endless practicing, you always “heard the music, the harmonies, and the notes.”

And through all our life, this passion for finding music and harmony has carried not only you, but also the people around you through heartaches, disappointments, sickness, and death.  I was thinking the other day, whenever there has been great joy or great sorrow in our family – we sing because of YOU!  It brings us comfort, joy and a connection deep within our souls.

But if you had never been born, had never been there to teach us about music and harmony, what would we have done?  See, in spite of the fact that you never got the cheerleader outfit, the megaphone, or the pom poms, you actually became what you always wanted to be, but never knew it. You had the talent, the attitude, the looks and the desires of a cheerleader and then you converted all of that to your God given talent – music. And then, you brought your sisters into your world of harmony.  And to this day, whenever we feel lost in a world full of conflict, pain or sorrow, or want to express our profound joy – we turn to each other, lift our voices up in song, and find peace through the harmonious sound that comes from the joining of our voices and souls.

So, hip, hip hooray,

I’m here to say,

Kit Kat’s the best,

In that musical way!

I will always see you as a “cheerleader” Kathy, who filled her heart’s desire in an extraordinary way – through “song” not “cheer leading” and the world is a better place, our family is stronger, your friends and fans are happier because you grace our lives with your exquisite gift of harmony and music! 

Isn’t this better than if you had become just an ordinary high school cheerleader? … Are those cheerleaders still “cheer leading”? … Because you’re still “singing” – and just maybe that’s the way it was always supposed to be. 

How lucky am I to be your sister – that regardless of whether we face good times or bad – you lead the way for our souls to find music and harmony in everything, and that is one of the many reasons I love you so very much, Kathy. 

With a grateful heart, I wish you the best birthday you could possibly imagine. 

Your devoted sister,

Pat

CINNAMON SUGARED PECANS

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 4 cups (1 pound) pecan halves
• ½ cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.    Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2.    Beat egg white in a large bowl with an electric mixer until frothy. Add pecans to egg white and stir until evenly coated.

3.    Mix sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl; add to pecans and stir until coated. Spread coated pecans onto a baking sheet.

4.    Bake in the preheated oven until fragrant and crisp, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and put on wax paper to dry before transferring to an airtight container.

INSPIRATION:

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

And sings the tune without the words.

And never stops at all.  –Emily Dickinson