My Sister, Karen...

 Karen Lynn Laughlin, 1960-1983

I usually don't mention that I had a sister. 

It invariably leads to questions... "what happened ?", "when did she die ?", just polite questions, people showing interest, but I quickly get to where I can't complete a sentence. 

(in this photo, she'd already been diagnosed, but they pumped her full of red cells and plasma so she could dance with her college classmates in a competition at Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., late April '83.  A Washington Post reporter came to interview her, because news of her dancing with her newly diagnosed illness reached the papers.  Hair already cut short, in preparation for the chemo therapy she'd begin when she got back to Houston.  Photo by WAPO photographer)

Next year will make 40 years.  December 23, 1983.  Leukemia.  Diagnosed in early April of that year, and just a few months later, gone.

(She danced the ballet from the age of 4.  She had a grace, a strength, smoothness of motion the other dancers just didn't have.  With several dancers on stage, you could spot her immediately, just by the way she moved.)

So, my apologies to those I've known for 20-30 years, but who have never heard me mention her.  But all it takes is a mention, or a scene in a movie that brings it all back.  It hits me rather quickly.  It was nearly 40 years ago, but could all have been just this morning.

(in this case, writing is cheating...

when typing, nobody can tell how many times 

I had to stop and dry my eyes...)

Y'all take care,
- Mark