First off, I cannot believe that I have a child who is 37, when did I get this old?
Where did the time go?
Seems like only yesterday...
And, here is the list:
- Courtney was born on the same night as Grace Ingalls. John and I had watched ma give birth to Grace while I was in labor. I figured if ma could do it in a little house on the prairie, I could do it just as effortlessly in a hospital.
- Our favorite names for Courtney were Kari, Melissa, and Courtney. No offense to all the Karis and Melissas out there, but I am sure glad we chose Courtney.
- Courtney had a speaking part in a Martin Luther play when she was in Kindergarten in St. John's. She was the only Kindergartener to have a speaking part in the play. Her lines were, "What does exmunicated mean, mama?" and "I don't want to be kicked out of the church either, mama."
- Courtney kept a very messy room. There was always so much junk on the floor and stuff everywhere. I would try and clean up a bit for her, but in amongst all that clutter, she always knew exactly where everything was and she always knew if I moved anything. Tizita is the same way.
- Courtney lost a very good friend, Jason during high school. He died in a car accident the day before Christmas. It was a very sad, sad time for her.
- Courtney was a cheerleader in High School. I remember seeing her name on the list of freshman cheerleaders and thinking that now her life would be perfect. Of course, it wasn't exactly perfect, but whose life is perfect in High School.
- Courtney was a very good student. She had straight A's through most of her High School career.
- Courtney was the Salutatorian of her 8th grade class and had to give a speech at graduation.
- Courtney threw up in the funeral home when we were there for my dad's funeral. She was in sixth grade when he died.
- Courtney started swimming competitively at age eight. She was disqualified in her first IM because she swam freestyle during the breaststroke lap. I, being new at swimming, was hoping no one would notice.
- Courtney was the youngest child in many of her swimming classes because she passed each level with flying colors.
- Because of swim team, Courtney had friends from all over. She was never just in the St. John's bubble and that made her transition to High School so much easier.
- Courtney took years and years of piano lessons, enough said.
- Courtney played the clarinet for four years in grade school. Sitting through those band concerts was torture for me.
- Courtney chose Knox college as her college of choice for many reasons, but the biggest one was Harley Knosher who promised that he would take good care of her if she joined their swim team. He kept his promise and she swam for Knox for all four years.
- Courtney had a car crash on the way to High School one foggy morning while driving her little white car. She turned right at the stop sign and was hit by a semi. The front end of the car was gone, but she and her sister were fine. Well, except for the emotional state of Alissa. The police man told her she could drive the car to school even without a front end. Yeah, right. There were rumors flying around the High School that she was in critical condition or maybe dead. Her friends were so happy to see her walk into school that day.
- Courtney also ran out of gas on the highway in the middle of winter. She had to walk, in her little cheerleading outfit to a motel to use a phone. This was way before cell phones.
- Courtney, truth be told, has terrible luck with cars. They just seemed to die on her at very bad times.
- Courtney's first job was in downtown Milwaukee. She and a friend lived in an apartment right downtown. It was fun to visit her there. She did well at that job and we were so proud that she put her degree to work.
- Right after her graduation from Knox, she informed us that she would not be coming home with us as planned. She, would instead, be staying in a frat house and working at a summer school for underprivileged kids. I was pretty upset and even more upset when I saw the condition of the frat house, but we all survived and by the end of summer, she had landed her job in Milwaukee.
- Courtney traveled to Germany while in college when she thought she would be a German major.
- Courtney loved going to Camp Philip, our church camp. One summer she worked in the kitchen up there and another summer she was a junior counselor.
- Courtney was our neighborhood babysitter. She had so many jobs. All the neighbors loved her.
- Courtney and her sister, Alissa never fought except for one time when they were both in college. Alissa did not like Courtney's boyfriend, so for three days they did not speak. That was the only time they ever fought. They always were and continue to be best friends.
- Courtney was the manager at the Watertown Aquatic Center for a few summers. One summer she was the manager and Alissa was the head guard. That summer, the Aquatic Center was run by the Damman Sisters.
- Courtney does not drink soda, never has.
- Courtney always said she was going to adopt a child from Africa. Little did any of us know that both her sweet girls would come from Ethiopia.
- Courtney met her husband Paul at an ultimate frisbee party. I do not believe that she liked him very much at that first meeting, but I am not sure of that. By the way, Courtney did not play ultimate frisbee, but was invited there by her former college roommate.
- Courtney does not like climbing look out towers.
- Courtney always landed whatever job she wanted. She had a gift for that and she still does. She successfully runs her Tizzy Dee business and now she has started her new venture of teaching family and kid zumba.
- Courtney once caught me in her bedroom, reading her notes. I could not get them folded up correctly or she might not have known I was reading them.
- Courtney had a strict curfew and she was good at getting home on time. One time I didn't realize she was in her bed and I was calling around to her friends to find her.
- Courtney was a bit of a bully as a young child. She tended to push her little friends around.
- Courtney came to preschool with me five days a week at Mary Linsmeier from age 2 1/2 on.
- Courtney broke her wrist when she was in fourth grade. She had fallen off her bike. When she got the cast on, she cried and would not go to school, so she came to Mary Linsmeier with me for the day. After that the cast was not so bad.
- When Courtney was at St. John's, the teachers were always pushing her to go to Lakeside or Luther Prep. She hated being called out on that all the time. We knew from day one that she would go to Watertown High School and we are so glad she did.
- I used to cut Courtney's hair, she sported very crooked bangs and a mullet. She also had an Annie perm at age five. She loved everything Annie.
Courtney in a nutshell.
Happy Birthday to my oldest daughter who has brought us nothing but happiness.
I pray that her daughters will bring her as much pride and joy as she has brought to us.
Carry on.
