Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Honor Thy Sister

I suppose every day is a good day to "honor thy sister or brother," but today is special. In a sad way. Today is the anniversary of my sister's death. Sandy passed away on April 22, 2006. Time doesn't heal all wounds, but it muffles the pain. Her death still hurts. I miss her dearly. It's odd that she passed away on Earth Day. Sandy loved the outdoors and would have wanted any remembrances of her to include environmental thoughts & actions. So, today I will try to be green as I remember my sister. It's a great day to recycle & reuse, plant a tree, donate to a green charity, and generally lower your carbon footprint.

Starting today, I plan on taking every Earth Day off from work...to remember and honor my sister...and the Earth. I'll do my part to recycle, reuse what I can (or donate to a local shelter or Goodwill store), sow a new tree or shrub, donate to a good environmental cause (or animal shelter--Sandy's other great love), and generally be a better steward of my environs. As a way to reflect on the day and what it means to me, I'll go for a long run. Maybe an all-day affair of running, jogging, and walking. Whatever miles I can accumulate, I'll donate in dollars to the local humane society or an environmental group in her name. It's the least I can do to honor my sister.

Time to run. I have miles to cover and fond memories to reflect upon. I miss you big sister. Later today I'll post how many miles I achieved.

UPDATE: I covered 47 miles today. That is one mile for each of Sandy's years on the planet. I will donate $47 to the Champaign County Humane Society too. Wish it could have been more.

2 comments:

Jerry Davison said...

Your sister sounds like a kindred spirit to my wife, especially the part about being an animal lover. And my wife has passed that on to our children. My daughter, 24, just adopted a beatiful german shepherd/golden lab mix this past weekend that the owner refused to pay for after the dog lost a hind leg in an accident with a car. "Edwin, the tripod dog" is enjoying his new freedom and thinks he's a 70-pound lap dog. Have a great day, Chris.

Chris Ⓥ said...

Thanks Jerry. Just logged 47 miles today--that's how old my sister was when she passed on. Too young. 47 was tough for me today, but considering everything, I'd rather have been running 99 miles celebrating her 99 years on Earth. Maybe that'll be for my mom--she's still kicking along at 85 years old!