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Sister

This has been a very difficult 24 hours.


My sister was an amazing woman. She influenced so many with her talents and skills and intelligence and love... It's difficult to overstate such a thing.

My first memories of Amie are of a golden-haired little girl with sunshine in her face and a twinkle of starlight in her eye. She was a natural leader, and her position as the oldest of seven siblings was something she found both to her liking as well as fitting her personality. She was strong-willed and intelligent, skipping most of her kindergarten and moving straight into first grade. This put her two years ahead of me in school, and it was awesome because she paved the way for me and the rest of us kids to follow. She set a good example for us, earning good grades at school, but also in her ability to make friends with people.

People often thought we were twins, despite the age difference. Which always made me proud.

She wasn't always the easiest person to get along with. But then, neither am I.


When she was very young - I think around 6 years old - she was diagnosed with a very serious and life-threatening form of cancer. She survived, but she bore the effects of that terrible disease for the rest of her life. Due to the radiation therapy which was then only in its very earliest stages of development, her body remained basically 8 years old from the bottom of her rib cage to the top of her thighs. This was a very miraculous and amazing time for all of us who knew Amie, one filled with incredible tender mercies as well as soul-wrenching heartache. Although I was so young, I was filled with fear, often, for her life. I was obviously too young to understand what was going on, but I knew that she was sick.

These effects didn't really start showing up until four or five years ago, but they did have an impact in large and small ways throughout her growing up years. She was short - my other two sisters are quite tall, as are all of us brothers, so she would have probably been six inches taller than she ended up. She used to have to sit on a phone book when she drove the family suburban (which she very seldom did). She liked driving smaller cars - her first car was a Hyundai Excel (remember those?) and was a cheap, noisy, underpowered little hatchback, which she loved. Until she totaled it. She didn't really enjoy driving, and had the accident reports and traffic tickets to prove it. :)

Her body had other impacts on her life, although. She was never super athletic, and had a difficult time with things that required a lot of walking, running, or the like. So it's even more impressive, then, that one of my fondest memories of her is seeing her come up over the ridge at Emerald Lake on the back side of Timpanogos. She would have been probably 14 or so, and her strength and determination were simply boundless. I've always admired her.

She never did hike Timp again. :)


She did march with the BYU Marching Band, but only for a year, and I think only because she was either paid well or she had to do it as a requirement for graduation. She hated it. It's ironic, then, that she became a band teacher for Bradshaw Mountain High School in Prescott Valley, AZ, and had to do field shows for years - AND SHE LOVED IT! :) I'm still astounded by that, frankly. 

I say that, but then, it doesn't surprise me at all. Amie loved people, and people loved her. Her name, chosen by my mother and spelled in that way advisedly, means "friend". And that's what Amie was - a real, genuine, and true friend. 

Speaking of friends, in the summer of 1991, she met this guy:


I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never met a more gentle, loving, and patient person. Which is exactly what Amie needed. They were in a ska band together and married in November 1991. Theirs was an epic romance of the purest, most wonderful kind, each sacrificing for the other and supporting and sustaining one another in everything. Everything. 

Which is a lot.

Because of her body condition, she wasn't able to bear children. However, she and Gordon adopted two amazing children - Ian and Courtnie - who are just about my own children's ages. It's been fun to watch them grow. I'm sure that the hardest thing for Amie in contemplating her shuffling off this mortal coil is the idea that she won't be able to share in her children's milestones... At least, not physically present... :(


Amie loved movies. Our family has always enjoyed Star Wars, the Princess Bride, and other movies of the era. Amie was my Yoda:




I love my sister. I can't believe this has happened. It's the hardest thing... Just... yeah. My heart is broken and I hope I can be worthy to join her on high.

Because there's no doubt where she is. She was a woman of faith and virtue and nobility.

When I first went through the Temple to receive my endowment, I was nervous and overwhelmed. The ceremony was intense, and I was just so nervous. But, on entering the Celestial Room, the first person I saw was my sister, beaming, looking absolutely angelic. And I've never been back since but what I thought of her, halfway expecting her to be standing there, still beaming at me with that smile and warmth that surpasses all description.


Comments

lillysmum said…
Beautiful tribute, Bill.

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