happy birthday sis

i love my sis.
she's one of my best-est friends in the whole wide world.
to me, she is amazing.

i am in awe of her as a mom.  she is so good at it.
she goes through hell to become a mom, but she pulls through it.
she lets her boys go off and explore the world,
and keeps an ever watchful eye on them.
i hope i am a lot like her when i get to be a mom.

we've had our differences.
for instance, i accidentally ran over one of her pet geese,
and learned a very important lesson--
always wait until you can see the goose
on the other side of the car before driving forward.
she didn't speak to me for about a week.

when we were younger, i felt like we were so different.
she rode horses, competed to be a rodeo queen,
milked cows, doctored calves, moved sprinkler pipe,
drove a tractor and hunted each fall during deer season.
i sang in the choir, worked on the school news paper,
performed in plays, wrote short stories for fun,
watched classic movies and musicals, and
on occasion helped her move sprinkler pipe.

i wondered if we would ever find our common ground.
it took a while, but we did.
i think i had to grow up to be able to appreciate our differences.
i think we both did.

we've had a lot of fun times together.
her visit to london rocked!
she asked me to take her engagement photos.
i got to see her husband-to-be surprise her
with the official proposal and ring, and capture it on film.
we love being aunt becky and aunt christine.
we have fun singing together, and playing duets on the piano.
we had fun with our brother on the deer hunt from hell.
we have fun talking on the phone for a really long time,
and sharing all the great times and the really hard stuff that happens in our lives.
i miss being able to see her whenever i want.

so, to my sister becky, i love you.  i'm really glad you're my sister.

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y