My Sisters Birthday

Tomorrow will be January 15 2008. Tomorrow my sister would be 21.

My sisters name is Kailee Elizabeth Oliver. She passed away when she was 16 from a heart condition. I struggle with this, especially now. I don’t talk about it much because I’m a guy and because of this fact I hold my emotions in and let them destroy me slowly from the inside. It all seems worse this time of year because Thanksgiving and Christmas has just come and gone and the New Year has gotten everyone excited about goals and new things to be accomplished. And then January 15th rolls around and seems to just add to everything. I’m not saying I don’t have a good time on these days with my AMAZING wife and BEAUTIFUL daughter but it’s all a little sadder because she’s not here.

Let me tell you about my sister. We were both adopted from different parents but that didn’t stop some sibling rivalries. In the end we became as close as a brother and sister could be. She had brown eyes and long dark hair. Her smile was perfect from the braces she endured. She played the piano and guitar and loved Relient K. She was a 4.0 student but she wanted to go to bible college and be a pastors wife because she loved God so much and wanted to do everything for Him. She used to call me Bro and I used to call her Sis. She used to follow me around and do everything I did. That included playing Ninja Turtles, collecting cards and playing guitar. She’d always wear a pair of white Ked’s. She shopped at the thrift store and wore vintage t-shirts and her best friend was our mom.

The last day I seen her was June 24, 2003. The last thing I said to her was ‘See you later Sis.” She was in the back yard reading in the sun. The doctors told us that she didn’t feel a thing. Her heart stopped before her knees hit the ground. She had a condition where her heart was larger than it should have been and it just gave out. A friend told me it was ironic that she died because her heart was to big.

A couple of weeks before she passed, we went on a missions trip to Jamaica. We helped out at an orphanage in the mountains.I remember her sitting in a group of kids with one on her lap. They hung on every word she said.

And it still kills me to see the hurt in my parents eyes. Especially my mom. I get it though. If anything ever happened to my daughter, I wouldn’t handle it half as well as my parents do. Only adding to how amazing they are. They taught me to never take anything for granted, especially time with the ones you love.

I still think of the things she never got to do. Go to college and get married. Buy a house and have kids. The thing that hurts the most is my daughter will never get to meet her Aunt Kailee. She’ll know her but she wont get to really know her. That breaks my heart.

Why do I tell you all of this? I don’t really know. These are my memories of her and I don’t usually share them ( and you don’t get to hear some of them. Some of them are just for me). Maybe that’s the problem. I hold it all in until it kills me to even say her name. But I don’t want it to be sad. Every time I think of her it should be happy. I was lucky to have her in my life. We all were. And if I had the choice of not knowing her at all or living with this hurt everyday, I’ll take the hurt in a second. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

So remember my sister today in the way you remember her the best. This is how I remember her. This is how I always will.

I love you Sis. I miss you. From your big Bro.