Growing up, there was always us two. I can’t remember a time that Cindy wasn’t around and, as the years have proven to me, there was never one experience that she didn’t improve.

I was always the dreaded ‘ideas person.’ Find a video online, see a dress, see a cool weapon and be instantly convinced that ‘this doesn’t look so hard.’ The next step was taking it to Cindy. Cindy would give me that look; the slightly grumpy one where she’s not sure if she really wants to invest her time in this new flight of fancy; but after a bit of talk and a ride to the hobby store, or out to the woods, or to Home Depot, materials were lined up. We made armor from cardboard, swords from PVC and pool noodles, and alien headdresses from foam and modpodge. We made beautiful capes and cloaks, dresses. I wanted a doll, and she learned to knit to make it for me.

Cindy’s made bodices and a corset; she’s sewn costumes for the entire Star Wars club to the point she doesn’t need a pattern. She and my father build two floats for Club Parades, one of which won the Harrisburg Holiday Parade.

Cindy can paint, putty, use a chop saw, change her own oil, fix cars, and put a wheeled vehicle anywhere you want it to go. She smiles where you make her food, enjoys long walks, and watching movies. She’ll pull your weeds, cut your grass, cleans the house; she’ll help you do anything and, when you fail, carry you through.

Cindy makes dreams come true. She is as perfect a partner as it is possible to have. She deserves to be loved, cherished, and admired for all of her amazing, amazing skills, her precious, perfect qualities, and the stubborn, loving soul beneath all of it that will always be there for you. I hope that she will be happy, and that is all.