Sisters (part 3): Meet Kathryn

Kathryn and I have been victims of distance. First, we are twelve years apart. That means that she left home when I was learning how to read and still sucking my thumb. Second, we have lived thousands of miles a part for many years, with annual visits if we are lucky.

I honestly don't have a lot of childhood memories that include Kathryn because she was busy running the high school newspaper and establishing the Hall tradition of Valedictorianism while I was playing patty-cakes. What I remember is that she was driven. She was involved. She was pro-active. She was self-motivated. (When Mom could never get my sorry bum off the couch to practice the piano she would remind me that "your sister Kathryn used to wake herself up at 5:30 a.m. when she was your age (11) so she could practice before school.") The other thing I remember about that time is that Kathryn was Molly Ringwald. That's the great thing about graduating in 1987 you know--your senior pictures could have been the cover of Pretty in Pink. Lavender eyeshadow? Yes, please! Kathryn had scores of suitors in high school. And, as our parents wished Kathryn to abide by the standard of not dating before age 16, I got to go out for frozen yogurt a lot (because if I was there, it was somehow not a date!)

Though my childhood relationship with Kathryn was rather distant, she totally set the standard for me (for all of us). She was the first graduate, the first BYU cougar, the first missionary. She worked hard. She excelled. She was the example.

Hearing stories of Kathryn's mission in New York City made me excited to serve one, too. She was hardcore. She learned and spoke Spanish so fast that even the Dominicans had to ask her to slow down. She got mugged and held up at gun point and knocked over on her bike to the tune of a broken finger. But on she went preaching the Good word. I was only 10, but I already knew that I needed to do that, too.

Kathryn finished up her undergrad in English and then received her Master's in ESL. She is a hardcore grammar and punctuation expert. (Like she will find 59 errors in this post.) She is a very clever writer. She ran the writing center at Utah Valley State College and taught English there as well as many colleges around the country (depending on where her husband's job took them). She was administering a test when her water broke with her first baby. She was back to work a week later (nursing all the while). I told you, she's hardcore.

And somewhere in the middle of that (after the bachelor's degree, but before the first baby!) she married Stu--who is a blog post unto his self. He is amazing. For the sake of this post (it is about Kathryn, after all), suffice it to say, he lived in Rock Canyon during several winter months in Provo, Utah. Inspired by Thoreau, he was sucking the marrow out of life. That is the kind of man Stu is. And we love him for it.

It's funny, because now that I am thinking about it, I followed Kathryn's footsteps in a lot of areas. BYU? Check. Mission? Check. Teacher? Check. Marry a man who went from the Humanities to business? Check. (Except mine never lived in Rock Canyon. Dang it!)

Kathryn is so bright and had such a stellar career teaching college that I often thought she would be more of a career woman than a stay-at-home-mom type. But I was wrong. She has bravely and uncomfortably made it through five pregnancies. (She gets violently ill for about the first 2/3 of each pregnancy. I am such a wuss. I don't think I would have kept signing up for that.) And now she is setting the example for me again--showing me how to be Super-Mom. In any given day she is chauffering her five children around Charlottle, from Girl Scouts to piano lessons to school to little league.
She supervises piano practicing, amidst preparing for her ward's primary program (once a year each Mormon congregation enjoys a whole hour of talks and songs by the children), and then

finds the time (and patience) to make homemade pretzels with her children.

She is patient, efficient, witty. She makes things fun. She gets things done. If we are coming together as a family you can count on her to email everyone an itinerary. On Christmas morning when Steven and I would shlop down the stairs in our sweats at 9:00 a.m. rubbing our eyes (this is an adulthood memory by the way, not a childhood one!), she was sitting at the breakfast table having showered, dressed, blow-dryed, eaten, and read the paper. That is Kathryn.

And so, like I knew at age 10 that I wanted to be the kind of missionary she was, I now want to be the kind of mother she is. Her kids are bright and driven and involved and fun.

Kathryn's most recent feat? After giving birth to little spidey here she decided she was tired of her post-five-births body.

She hadn't been a runner before, but she decided now was the time. She started small. A mile. Two miles. It hurt. Her lungs, her knees, her ankles, her feet. Three miles. Four miles. It still hurt, but it felt so amazing to have more energy, to feel more healthy, to lose baby weight!

When she can't run outside she supervises kids while running on the treadmill. As busy as her life is, she makes it happen. She ran a 5K. We were impressed. She ran another one. We were impressed.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, my big sister Kathryn ran a half-marathon. I am impressed and proud to the point of misty eyes at writing this!


And now I am following in her footsteps again. I'm only up to 2 miles sis, but I'll be by your side in April.