Sister Carol

Margie, Sarah, Carol, David, Janet, Jeanine, Cherlyn
Shirley, Albert

When I was 8 years old my parents got a divorce, so my sister and I lived with our mother for nearly two years. Then, mom married a man who had 4 daughters, and within another couple years a new baby joined the clan, yet another girl. That left me with six sisters: one full-blooded sister, 4 step sisters and a half sister.

Fast forward five decades and add a bunch of kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and a wild collection of friends along with a lifetime of activities and you can believe me when I say my family is cool, weird, eccentric, goofy, fascinating and a whole lot of other adjectives.

In spite of a couple bumps in the road along the way, that offbeat gang of siblings has stayed in tact for five decades. However all good things must come to an end and a few days ago the inevitable day came when the first of the group had to fall. Carol was the second oldest. She lost a battle with cancer. MSNBC has released an article suggesting that some cancer deaths are down, but there are still a half-million deaths each year. According to the Mayo Clinic, cancer is the second leading casue of death in women.

Whenever someone dies, there is a tendency to focus on the loss, but in Carol’s case it is much better to focus on all of the great days she brought us. That is because Carol was the wacky one.

If you have ever watched America’s Funniest Home Videos you have seen people like her. Sometimes Carol could be absent minded. She is the kind of person who climbs in the wrong car at the shopping center or puts gas in her car and drives off without putting the hose back. In the early years, if somebody spilled milk at the dinner table, it was most likely Carol.

Carol had a colorful youth. For instance, she is one of the only people I have ever known to give themselves a tattoo. She installed the initials of an old boyfriend in her hand long before tattoos were fashionable. As I said, Carol was the wacky one.

She was not always the most feminine of females and she was fully willling to speak her mind. In fact, she knew a few words that would embarrass the most boisterous characters in a prison locker room. And she was not afraid to use them if she thought it was the best way to make a statement.

As the years ticked by Carol’s antics grew in number. Whenever the family would get together, we frequently relived her goofy days and Carol loved to participate in the conversation. The tales would go round and round. Whenever somebody would remind everybody else of the time that Carol did this or that, she would make certain that some other, equally funny episode, was not overlooked.

About six months ago, Carol reminded us of one such event that had faded into the archives of tired minds. But once she brought it up, sister Janet, remembered the entire ordeal and affirmed the story. Within a few seconds we were all smiling and giggling as Carol relived one of the most memorable pranks of her youth.

As the story goes, Carol was only about sixteen at the time and "borrowed" one of the family cars to go for a joy ride with a few friends. The vehicle in question was one of those old bubble-shaped tank-type cars of the fifties. It had a stick shift, and a giant steering wheel, and no power steering.

Lots of teenagers liked to smoke in those days because it made them feel cool and mature. Carol’s friends were all "acting cool" in that automobile and she had a lit cigarette danging from her lower lip as she came upon a large bump in the road. Naturally, the absent-minded Carol was not paying attention.

Upon impact, the old clunker of a car suddenly jolted skyward. Carol basically lost control of the giant steering wheel and the cigarette flipped upside down and the lit end actually penetrated her nostril. The impact was so substantial that it went up there so far that it could not fall out on its own.

In the mean time everybody else was bouncing around inside that car. Carol’s own instincts were at odds with themselves because she needed to regain control of the car and also attend the lit butt in her nose; but, what to do first? Apparently, she slapped at her nose to get rid of the cig, but she only managed to ram it up there further. As her nose was burning she somehow managed to stop the car and remove the smoking tobacco stick from her blistered nostril and let out a few of those profanities I told you about. Her nose took several days to heal.

As the two sisters told us all the story, they got to laughing so hard I thought they were both going to wet their pants. And, you know how contagious laughing can be. We all knew about Carol’s unusual ability to get into "I love Lucy" type situations. We all knew it was true, and another legendary story was added to an already full book.

Carol had lots of other wonderful qualities and I will never forget them, but the one thing that will stick with us all is how she gave us a lifetime of joy and humor.

We all thank God for Carol.

She was the wacky one.

We miss her already.

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