Earth Day. The Science March (which I sadly can’t attend until Science gets around to curing my damn Crohn’s Disease). My late sister Judy’s birthday. So I’m reposting this. Hey – Jude believed firmly in recycling!
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She’s been gone now for 17 years, Jude. Not a day has gone by since that I haven’t wanted to talk with her, laugh with her, or, alternatively because she was my sister, smack her. There really isn’t a relationship like you have with a sister. Even long after they are gone.
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Today, April 22, is Earth Day! It’s the Anniversary of the very first Earth Day. Here is Walter Cronkite’s report on the first Earth Day, 1970:
It would also be my late sister Judy’s 65th birthday.
Whoever made the decision to turn Judy’s birthday into Earth Day chose wisely. Judy was a born environmentalist and recycler.
On the first Earth Day, Judy was a new, very young mother who believed in saving the planet. She was the first “environmentalist” I ever knew personally, and well, I thought she was nuts. There was a recycling bin in her kitchen for as long as I can remember. And this was back when recycling took effort. She believed in gardens, not garbage, and she made life bloom wherever she was.
“I’ve got kids,” she’d say. “It’s their planet too!”
But years later, Judy took recycling to a whole different level when she helped people recycle themselves. In the 1990s, Jude, who was then living in Florida, began working with the Homeless, assisting at shelters. Then she actively began trying to help homeless vets food, shelter and work — to enable them to jump-start their lives.
When she died in early 2000, the American Legion awarded her honorary membership for her services to homeless vets. A homeless shelter was named in her honor. So she’s still doing good works, my sister is. That would make her wildly happy.
Jude also gave me the Beatles. So it is very appropriate that they wrote a song for her.
You see, the night the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, it was MY turn to choose what we were going to watch. And we were going to watch the second part of The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh starring Patrick McGoohan on the Wonderful Wide World of Disney. My four (all older and MUCH cooler) siblings were furious with me. But I was quite insistent. You might even say that I threw a Class I temper tantrum over it, but I wouldn’t admit to that. Hey, I was seven. And it was my turn to choose. Fair is fair, especially in a big family with only one TV.
Somehow, Judy talked me out of my turn. She was always very persuasive. Thanks Jude.
Hey Jude, Happy Earth Day-Birthday.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
awwww… sniff… stupid allergies…
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Yeah. It’s that season.
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ha
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Happy birthday to both Judy and the Earth. Did people try and give her only one gift and say ‘This present is both for your birthday and for Earth Day’?
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Dirt. They gave dirt …
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Your touching rhapsody of your sister reminds me of a quote I once posted by Louisa May Alcott:
“There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully, that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”
It must have been a very sad day for you, when you lost her.
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It was a sad day. But Judy was never a shy violet — she was always the life of the room.
My other late sister, Beth, fit that description to a tee.
Losing them were hard, sad days. A piece of your heart goes with folks when they pass. And we are never the same.
Nice to see you, Tippy.
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Well I kind of misapplied it, but it’s one of my favorite quotes. So any excuse to use it.
Nice chatting with you, too.
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I am not trying to be snarky or clever when I say that, when I first started reading your post about the passing of your sister, I thought it would be sad. However, you took a sad song and made it better. Happy birthday (belated now, I guess) to Jude, and here’s hoping we still have an Earth to celebrate after this administration is done trying to destroy it.
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That was actually one of judy’s talents — finding the humor in the dark…
It’s a wee bit comforting that she’s not around to witness what trump is doing. 😔
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I never had a sister, but your Jude sounds like a wonderful person! Hugs to you on this special day!
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Thanks Jill.
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I’ve been wondering where you went, Elyse. Great post, great tribute to your sister. I’m sure I would have loved her, as I’m kind of a “greenie” myself. 🙂
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Just too disgusted with Trump, actually, to write. 😕.
And you would have liked Jude — quite a character, she was.
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Man… “Hey Jude” and Earth Day. She sounds like one bitchin’ babe (and I mean that in the most appropriate way, of course). Happy Birthday, Judy!
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😂. That she was, Marty! Thanks!
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How wonderful that a shelter was named in her honor. What a great tribute to her.
I marched for science today in Cleveland. There’s a sign I saw you would have liked: “My Gut Microbiome wants you to march for science.” 😁
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So glad you marched! Wish I could have. But my gut microbiome …
Isn’t it cool that they named a building after her? She was something!
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Your sister sounds like she was an amazing person!
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Thanks, Deb. She really was.
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Beautiful tribute, Elyse. 4/22 is also my late mother’s birthday. ❤ ❤
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A day for good people, for sure. I learned today that it was also naturalist John Muir’s birthday. Might have been why they chose it for Earth Day. ❤
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What a beautiful tribute for a wonderful sister.
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Thanks, Kate. She was. Most of the time 😏
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Happy Birthday, Jude. 🙂
Last year a good friend of my brother’s, a “boy” I grew up with, passed away. Since I was about 12 and he 13, I’ve associated that song with him. When I found out he was ill, I started playing it occasionally, remembering funny stories and sweet moments with him. He was so dear. And then he died, and I played “Hey Jude” again. Then I looked up his obituary. As it turns out, his middle name was “Jude,” and I never even knew that.
I know I just hijacked your sweet story about your sis, and for that I apologize. But I thank you for the cause to think of my friend Dan again. He was so dear.
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No apology needed. I’m sorry for your loss. And how funny that his middle name was Jude! W order if you knew that subliminally!
The song captures the gamut of my relationship with my Jude — soft and sweet, a bit raucous, and screaming! She was something, my sister.
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She was a remarkable and amazing lady. She walked her talk..
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Thanks. She was one of a kind.
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