My Niece---Colleen

Rumbling thru the empty streets of the quaint farm city of Davenport, Iowa, there, nestled along the Mississippi River, amidst the Quad Cities...Joe Howard, rushed my sister, Patsy to the hospital, past the billboards featuring "Iowanna Ice Cream" and such. They did reach the hospital on time...and shortly thereafter, Miss Colleen Howard...was ready to party...brimming the scales at 9 pounds...

All of us, back in Chicago, were kinda out of the loop...Patsy so far away...It felt like you were getting a call from Europe, when the birth announcement came...one quiet early December night back in 1969...We were all ecstatic, of course, the first "girl" grandchild...to join the pack...

But it wasn't until her Christening when we all packed up and drove 4 hours to Davenport...to see Baby Colleen, in action...Joe & Patsy were in Iowa because Joe was wrapping up college at St. Ambrose, and we all waited with baited breath for them to move back to the Windy City...

Right out of the box, Colleen showed just a huge burst of knowledge...She was way ahead of the pack...in that regard...As she grew, she only got smarter, and me & her, would be fast friends for life...as I'd go, toe to toe, with this little rambling dynamo...just exuding a sparkling energy, that shows to this very day...Even though we were 6 years apart, we'd bicker like brother & sister...

I can recall, one time, when Colleen was living up in Lake Geneva, over by the Dairy Queen, off Motel Road, on Lake Geneva Boulevard...Colleen had turned on some lame cartoons...Well, it was play-off football season...and I had my heart set on watching some great match-up between AFC foes....

....boooomm...

A little tiff erupted...and before you know it...Colleen had managed to wrestle away control of the TV...and she had this deliciously wicked smile like, I don't even like these cartoons, but you lost this round, ol' chum...That kinda showed me, right there, this little girl, was gonna be a pure handful, if you weren't on your toes...

And, of course, I would mark my revenge later on, when I forge the notion, that peanut butter, was actually crazy glue, that would seal your jaws tight, forever, if eaten.....leaving Colleen petrified of peanut butter, to this very day...

We didn't always fight, one of my all-time fave photos, is standing in the backyard, of our Lake House, in 3 feet of snow, together....one early April day, back around 1974...Me & Colleen, standing besides a huge, 6 foot, Easter Bunny snowman, my sister Patsy, had created...

Just a stunner, the intricacy of those big floppy ears of snow, on that Snow Bunny, with a basket of colorful eggs, in its lap...We were sky high, to see so much snow, so late in April, and I never, ever seen an Easter Bunny of snow...since...quite as good...

Colleen, of course, became a big sister, to Carrie & Kate, as time flew by and they were as close as sisters will ever be...And it was Colleen, who was always in the forefront, either in the classroom or out on the basketball court, that she led her little sisters, by example...

From her silly days, growing up on Francisco Ave. in Evergreen Park, about 92nd Street...where you could see Colleen whirling around on her PURPLE BICYCLE, up to when they moved out to Palos Park, where Colleen was only a block away from Sandburg High School...

And that move, was rather telling, because Sandburg High School, is not only an excellent high school, but Colleen went on to become a stand-out Captain of the basketball team, leading her team to the play-offs...time and again...a fearless leader...in a pint size package...

There Colleen was, the important basketball game winding down, as the little fiery point guard, took the ball, and just kept it nice & safe, as the opposing players hacked away at her down the stretch. There, at the free throw line, Colleen just hit every single shot...sealing a big, big victory for Sandburg...and that was a big thing in her life(leading her team to a 26-3 record)...for all of us...as we read it in the newspaper the next day...

For later on, when she graduated from the University of Illinois, Colleen went back to Sandburg and became a very inspiring teacher and coach of the girls basketball teams(coaching the sophmores to 24-0, in 2007)...She is there, to this very day, inspiring the youth of the Palos community...

Whether she is teaching Honors History & Economics, or the preparing the brightest for the important college entrance exams...Colleen instills knowledge and substance...an incredible insight, she provides, to shine down, on making those kids their very best...And alot of those kids do go on to the top schools in the country...

And Colleen is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, running the Homecoming dance & Pep Club, every year, for so long, making it a truly unique & memorable experience, for those happy girls & boys, to cling on, in their budding memories, for years & years.

There are so, so many funny Howard Girl stories, of them growing up, because they were a kooky bunch, who kinda bounced from Lake Geneva to Evergreen Park, then out to Palos....always some of the most popular & fun girls in their class....We are definitely gonna have to look at some of those, as the Caring Carrie & Killer Kate stories...rock into these blogs...

Today, Colleen is married to Sean Mulcahy, with a little boy wonder, Conor, in tow...They live blissfully downtown, amidst the skyscrapers, in the Printers Row area of the South Loop.

She had met her young husband, Sean, out on a softball field, in Grant Park, downtown, one sunny day, and from there on, the happiness & hilarity, that fills their hearts, is always, a joy to behold...

Sure, Colleen will probably be bouncing out to the Suburbs, with her new family, by her side...but deep down inside, she's gonna always be the little dynamo, that came out of nowhere, out of the far reaches, of Davenport Iowa...to electrify our hearts, with her brimming endess, energy, and super-happy smile...And you can see that smile, in her little boy Conor, too, who now takes over as the little dynamo, to watch...

Colleen is truly, truly...one of a kind...and I'm pretty lucky...to remember her growing up...all these years...