To my sister.............

So there is no doubt in my mind that I might be slightly in trouble for this post. However, it was done with great love and not for embarrassment purposes. Today is my little sister's birthday. However, my little sister is not so little anymore, in fact she is an amazing woman, wife and mom.

As her birthday approached I wanted to do something other than the mailing of a card with a gift card enclosed. But what for the woman who has everything. She has three beautiful daughters, a wonderful husband who loves her completely and this incredible, charming way about her; even when she is knocked down by the worst curve ball imaginable, she can still find sunshine.

For whatever reason, a very long time ago I collected her school pictures. The first photo in the collage below is prior to kindergarten, then her kindergarten through eighth grade photos. I know when she sees this she will be squirming inside, shaking her head wondering what was she (our mother) thinking at all the outfits.

On the back of one of these pictures she wrote the following: "Chelsea, Parents don't listen but oh well. I hope you like it. To the best sister I love you even when we do fight. Love, Jennie"




I realize some of these pictures are not her favorites and is probably wondering "I thought all of those were burned." I see my best friend I shared a room with, laughed with, cried with and oh fought with. From the outside, we are very different she looks like and sounds like my mom in so many ways and I look like and act like my dad not to mention I am almost 5 inches taller than her without shoes. With shoes, some days I feel like the jolly green giant. Our journeys in life took us in opposite directions until we had children.

From 2003 to 2008 our parents went from having no grandchildren to having 7 grandchildren. However, in 2004 one of those grandchildren, my sister's daughter, passed away due to complications from pre-mature birth. How do you recover from that? The courage, strength and ability to be human she showed all of us, she became my hero. I don't know if I could ever recover from that and she did it with such beauty and grace.

Thank you for being there when I needed it, being a sounding board when I just wanted to be mad and laughing with me when our children did something totally ridiculous. I like knowing when I am sitting in the car pool line with nothing to do, I can call you and we can talk about nothing and everything.

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful sister and her beautiful family. Although we are not there to help her celebrate, please know we are sending lots of hugs and love.

Anna, Jen, Ruthie, Dave and Lily

And.....Oh by the way.....since we never seem to get our birthday presents to each other on time I didn't want to break tradition, it is on its way....HAHAHAHA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!

TTFN~