Count On Me: A Story of Sisters
by: Deanna Russo

Karen was my little sister, we were just four years apart in age.  We both loved music, to this day there are several songs that "strike a chord" and remind me of her.  For her high school graduation, I wrote her the lyrics to a song that I thought summed our relationship to a tee.

"Count On Me"
“Count on me through thick and thin,
a friendship that will never end,
when you are weak, I’ll be strong,
helping you to carry on,
count on me, I’ll be there.”

I wrote her the lyrics, surrounded the words with pictures of us and my parents and framed it.  She liked it so much that she often would point it out to friends and proudly proclaimed "my sister gave me that".   Even though Karen towered over me at 5'8", I was still the

"big sis", often looking out for her, driving her around town.   We'd do lots of stuff together, from taking part in games of "Uno" to going out to eat, shopping, and to the movies.  One of the last movies we saw together was Walt Disney's "The Little Mermaid".  We both loved the music from that film, especially a song called "Part of Your World".  It still brings tears to my eyes. 

Things weren't always picture-perfect.  There were times when Karen and I got into arguments - even catfights, but those times were overshadowed by all the good that came out of our relationship.  With age comes maturity, and as we grew and matured into young women, we established a bond with each other that could not be broken.   That bond was strengthened through phone calls, emails, and even the occasional "Hallmark" cards that we exchanged while Karen was living in the dorms at St. Bonaventure.

Karen was one of those people with a genuine heart and was willing to give advice whenever a friend needed it.  She earned the nickname “Caring Karen” in one of her religion classes at school.  It was a nickname, but it was also Karen.  Many times, she would go out of her way to help girls at the dorm, even loaning them band-aids or cotton balls, from the huge stock that my parents left her with.  They could have hung a sign on Karen’s dorm room “Robinson Dorm Store”.  The girls knew if they were in desperate need for something, they could always turn to Karen.   She was always there when her friends needed a shoulder to cry on.  I received an email saying "my friend's having a bad day, I'm going to cheer her up."  She was always looking out for those closest to her. 

In early March of 1998, Karen was home visiting friends and family while on spring break from school.  The night before, I had stopped over to my parents’ house for the weekly “laundry night” and dinner.  I can remember the four of us sitting in the living room, watching TV, chatting about Karen’s school and my work.  I had a sense of true contentment.  We had no idea what was to come - just 24 hours later, just how our lives would drastically change forever, and the emptiness that would forever be left because of someone's bad choice. 

Read on about Karen's family's experience as her life was taken by some very bad decisions...