You Should Meet My Sister

It’s been a pretty tough couple of months since I was laid off from my job. I’ve pretty much run out of money, self-esteem and the ability to laugh at myself. It’s become quite the pity party on this side of the road. I’m not apologizing; I think I’m allowed to feel this way. I was finally offered a job and accepted it here in the area. I was hired by Rite Aid as a Store Manager. If that doesn’t make you wonder about the well being of that company I don’t know what will. Anyway, it’s good to have a job and hopefully I’ll get that mojo back that I seem to have lost along the road.

There have been a few things that have gone on around here over the last few weeks that I feel are worth mentioning. I told you all about Jodie getting married. I think you can all imagine how much work goes into an occasion like that. Karen, the mother of the bride and my sister, worked like crazy to throw the magnificent shindig that a number of you attended. I think she deserves quite a lot of accolades for the good time she arranged for us all.

What some of you don’t know is what else was happening at the same time as the wedding. About a month or so before the wedding, Karen got a call from some people telling her that some folks from the television show “Extreme Home Makeover” were coming to town and wanted to speak to her about being the builder for the house they were going to build in the area.

Karen and Bob have always been big on the charity thing. The company has received awards for their giving nature. Hell, the house I live in was originally built to raise funds for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. That being said, Karen was quite interested in helping out. As more and more information came in she started seeing how big of a job this was going to be. I know there were many moments when she just plain wanted to call the show and say she couldn’t do it but she stuck with it.

I have never seen the show but those that have will know what I mean when I talk about this next thing. They have this thing called a door knock at the beginning of the show where they surprise the family and let them know that they have been chosen for the “Makeover”. Well, Karen asked when the door knock was and she was given the date. The “Door knock” was set to be on the same day as her daughters wedding. Be honest with yourselves here, how many of you would have quit the show right there? I know I would have and I’m pretty positive a huge percentage of you guys would have too.

Karen and I laughed a great deal about the timing of all this but I don’t think there was ever a time when anyone knowing her didn’t think she could pull this off. The common response when people were told of the dual jobs Karen had going on at the same time was along the lines of, “ well, if there’s anyone that can get this done, it’s your sister”.

I use to marvel at how well my ex-wife would perform under pressure. Well, Shelly, you’ve met your match and more. Here’s a woman who, with her husband, is running a company and trying to keep it afloat during some of the most trying economic times of our lives, while also trying to arrange a large wedding for her daughter while at the same time gathering a huge volunteer group to build a 3100 sq. ft. house in 106 hours. Overwhelming is one word that comes to mind.

The end result of all this is the newlyweds are now in Hawaii on their honeymoon and the house was given to the family this past Friday but there was so much more to it and I have nowhere near the talent to put it all into words. You should have seen her in action. There’s not a retail outlet in the world that couldn’t use her organizational skills. Her ability to get all these volunteers to give their time and money to the house was astounding. Yes, she had a ton of help but they wouldn’t have helped if it weren’t Karen asking for it.

I was at the site of the house a bunch of times and she was like a buzz saw. Looking left and going right with barely a blink while commanding a group of volunteers who all deserve an award for their efforts. Karen was certainly at the top of the mountain of people who did this amazing act of kindness. You should have seen her…