Monday, August 19, 2924
1944 Catherine Monica Clausen was born.
In bed at 9:35, awake at 4:15, and up and out at 4:45 to let Lilly out. I had thoughts of KItty on awakening, a lifetime of loving, caring, and good work, a blessing to her family, friends, and so many strangers she treated as friends, a Good Samaritan and Good Shepherd, a loving daughter, mother, sister, friend, a mensch.
Prednisone, day 99, 10 mg., day 6/28. I took the 10 mg. at 5 a.m. followed by All Bran and berries at 6 a.m. and morning meds and 1300 mg. of Tylenol at 7. This morning, the hip, the thigh (bone?), and the knee are all painful this morning.
On this date in 1944, in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, a beautiful and courag, and saintly 21-year-old mother, who was one of God’s gifts to this world, gave birth to a daughter who was destined to become an image of her mother, beautiful, courageous, and saintly, another of God’s gifts to the world. When Mother Mary brought the precious daughter home to her little basement apartment, her waiting brother, about to turn 3 years old, is reported to have said “Take her back. She doesn’t play.” That was just the first of many mistakes that almost 3-year-old brother would make in his life, but he learned soon enough that that new sister of his, would become throughout 2 long lifetimes, his best friend, his confidante, his soul-sister as well as his biological sister. He would come to love and admire her as she grew into a woman like their mother: beautiful in so many ways, courageous in so many ways, and saintly in so many ways. As they grew older and older, with lifetimes of living behind them, the brother would share his belief in the saintliness of his sister with their father, who would chuckle because he sometimes saw her when she was impatient, or ‘bossy’ or angry at one thing or another. The now-old brother would suggest to the even older father that he just didn’t know what real saints looked like. The saintly sister herself would join in dismissing the idea that she was St. Kitty of Emerald Avenue and the brother would have to remind her and their father that real saints aren’t God and they are not angels - they are all human beings who get impatient, ‘bossy’, and even angry at times. What makes them saints was described by Jesus in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of St. Matthew: I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me water. I was sick and you cared for me. I needed a home and you took you into your home. So of course the brother, who had made many mistakes in his own life over many years, was not mistaken in describing his sister, who he loved so much, as a Saint. Nor is he mistaken in thanking God for giving him the blessing of his beautiful, courageous, and saintly sister, so very much like their dear mother.
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