Moons 101 continued

I have the greatest family.

My sister Michele and I are so much alike. Aren't I the braggart?

One way we are alike is how we look at the world. I have this defective mind that thinks that things should be fair, and when things aren't fair I get upset. Yes, I know this is idealistic and I know it has caused, causes, and will continue to cause me a great deal of difficulty in life, but I just can't help it. Michele is like that too. The difference is that when things are not right, she will try to fix them. So many times when I would never have the chutzpah to speak up, Michele would have the courage to. She is brave and strong and "acts rather than just talks". She strives daily to make the world a better place.

Michele is so loving. Michele is so giving of her whole self. There have been 3 times in my life that Michele has dropped everything for me. No - actually 4.

1. In December of 2007, after a year long battle to bring Angelica home, I got The Call (actually it was an e-mail) from Guatemala that said her case was approved and to come get her (they were about that nice). I think I gave Michele something like 72 hour notice. She dropped everything and came running...and together with Oscar we rushed down to bring Angelica home.

2. On October 1 when I got the call that I had cancer, she hopped on a plane just a few short days later so she could attend all my really important doctor appointments. She was with me 100% while I heard all about the biology of my disease. She made it endurable.

3. She is dropping everything again this week to be here with me for my procedures on Thursday and my next round of medical assaults on Friday.

4. When I was 3 years old she pulled all kinds of strings to get me on the cheerleading squad as a junior cheerer.

Dropping everything for Michele means no income for the time she is here because she is an independent contractor. It means finding someone to take care of her precious 4-legged children. It means putting her other business on the back burner. Oh, by the way, did I mention her other business/life? Michele has a gazillion acres in Costa Rica where she and her partner/dear friend Eugene have a farm. They grow bamboo, an enduring, renewable natural resource...how typically Michele!!! She gets up to watch/listen to the morning rise at 5:30 a.m. every day. She eats her own chickens/eggs/pineapple/bananas/etc and her own talapia fish that they are raising. She is in heaven on her farm. Up top are Costa Rica pictures of Michele, Eugene and the ocean she adores!

Michele is a great aunt. My children adore her. In 2007 I was trying to adopt another little boy from Guatemala. His name is Joseph. Michele and Joseph bonded instantly. It was so incredibly special. I swear he was her child. Makes me cry just to think about it. Below is a photo of the two of them.

Michele is an artist. Everything she does, from the way she talks to the masterpieces she creates, has a creative, artist flair (candles, crystals, paper, chandeliers, music cds, drawings).

Michele is a very deep thinker. She believes in karmically god things. Michele is the kind of person that writes me e-mails that say:
"you and angelica and oscar are in a complete circle of life together. you saved them from a lesser life so that now they could give you a reason for living
and a fuller life. only no one knew it or did it consciously...which makes it divine."

She has hot flashes in her heart & head for me and writes to tell me about them.

Michele is beyond description and I re-read this knowing I have come up short. I hope you all get to meet her. Your life will be richer for it.

I feel the same about Michele today as when I was little. When I grow up, I want to be just like her!

I love you Michele!


xoxo