Mini-Ode to Karissa A. Montes

Hello Real World….. Meet Karissa Montes

As I head into summer of 2012, I can’t help but smile at how quick time has flown by. I feel like just yesterday my brother Chris and I were arguing over foul balls while playing backyard baseball. Heck it feels like just hours ago, I was arguing why I found it necessary to control the remote all day every day for the entire summer, of course Judy Montes never allowed this, but I always tried. And well wasn’t it just this morning I was pushing all my siblings out the door so I could get everyone including myself to school on time.

Life truly does fly right by, and tomorrow my 23-year-old sister will graduate with a degree in Bio-Chemistry. My sister has always been my soundboard and even though I wasn’t always the easiest older brother to follow, her loyalty as a sister never strayed. I owe Karissa Montes so much more than any check can offer, and even if I could, I wouldn’t have enough zeros in my bank account to even scrape the surface of how much debt, love and gratitude I have for this amazingly beautiful woman.

I have never once in my life worried about my sister, she is easily one of the most responsible women I know. I say this because, I wasn’t exactly a model citizen as a young kid, teenager, and young adolescent, and I didn’t exactly map out the path my siblings should take. My sister is a huge tool and important piece in the puzzle of our family that both my mother and father have created. I always thank the Lord for allowing me to have been blessed with good parents, but I don’t say enough how much my beautiful little sister has meant and will always mean to me.

I love you unconditionally little sister, you get more and more beautiful every year, and your hunger for knowledge and education is contagious. I have no doubt in my mind that you will be successful, whether that is in the doctor’s office or with a lab coat and goggles on. You’re my favorite little chemist, and I won’t be rooting for you quietly, instead I will become the obnoxious fan who paints his body and screams at the top of his lungs, for the simple fact that, that’s the only way you ought to be celebrated.

If I have taught you anything, I hope you have learned that even in the most serious times, life can always be funny. I hope you never forget that comedy is in our blood and finding things to laugh about is second nature. You may be on the path to “scientist stardom” but you’re hardly a boring slub in a lab coat. Besides Judy, you are by far my favorite Montes woman, and by far one of my favorite people of all time.

I love you and I am so damn proud of you!!!!! Now go cure some disease so I can brag about you even more

Love,

Your Big Brother