Generous Little Jenny

Jenny with her husband Jeff and their five children.
Photo by Mitzi Torgersen



Last week, two days before my own birthday, my little sister turned forty.  I am four years older than her which maybe explains why my brain keeps turning off when I want to remember something and then helpfully remembers that thing in the middle of the night days later.   This time it remembered 8 days late.  Better late than never is becoming my new motto.  Here are some of the things I admire about Jenny.

Jenny is very good at organizing events, and being in charge.  In a family where we sometimes have a tendency to not be very decisive about some things, it is helpful to have a Jenny around.  When Ray (the oldest) and Jenny and I have traveled together before, Jenny was in charge.   

Jenny and Jeff are unfailingly generous at sharing their home and their resources.  Their house is almost always the family reunion / Harvest Dinner (early Thanksgiving) location.  Once they were able to take a lot of us to Lake Powell to stay on a house boat and it is still something that many of my kids love to remember.

Jenny loves to help.  If she knows something is wrong she wants to jump right in and help solve the problem.  She even called one of my doctors once to make sure he was doing all he could to help me.  How could I not love a sister who would do that?  She is also good at helping my Mom, and since I love my Mom, this makes me happy too.

Jenny has a good sense of humor.  I wish I had a video of her during one of our family reunion skits a few years ago.  Jenny loves yoga, and climbing, and is very strong.  Still, she is also very little and does not have your usual body builder physique.  So, during a part of one skit Jenny was making muscles in a dramatic fashion that had us all laughing and laughing.  Hopefully I would still laugh and not just sit there and covet the strength that she works hard to maintain.

Jeff calls Jenny "Little Jenny".  When he goes to find her I expect that he often finds her outside in the yard -- at least if the weather is good.  Little Jenny sometimes drives a backhoe to move rocks or dirt around.  Jenny's yard is beautiful.  She does lots of things like laying stone patios, or working in her beautiful flower or vegetable gardens.

Jenny is talented, generous, strong, fun, and kind.  She is also loyal, helpful, and friendly (like a good scout).  I love her and hope that her 40th birthday was a happy one, and that she'll enjoy many more happy birthdays.