My Sister...

My sister is 11 years older than me so you can imagine what it was like to grow up with a sibling so much older than me. I can understand now why she didn't really want me around all the time even though I didn't at the time. But I always knew my sister loved me to death.

My Jenn always loved to read, I remember walking out of my room and hearing the hum of her voice behind her closed door animating the words from some novel she was reading. I would often peak into the room to see her laying on her back, feet up on the heater with a book raised above her face. I always loved seeing her read although I'm not sure why. The picture of it has stayed with me this long so it must have meant something to me. This love of reading was passed to me when I was going into 3rd grade. I don't know if she knows or not but I attribute my love of reading to her almost solely. You see, my sister would read Harry Potter to me. She would read chapter after chapter. Now you have to understand, Harry Potter chapters are LONG and my sister was just finishing her senior year of high school at this time so she obviously had much better or cooler things she could have been doing. But no, she would sit downstairs with me and read for hours. I never wanted her to quit.

Later that year, my big sister took me to my first (and only, so far) concert. NSYNC. She had hooked me on them too when I was really little. I remember watching documentaries that our cousin had taped for us with her. But I was so excited to go. You have no idea how excited I was. I think we have a picture of me sitting on her lap just hugging the living daylights out of her.

As the years have gone by my friendship with my sister has grown stronger and stronger. When she left for college I hated it. I wanted her to come home so much. When she got married to this hunky guy from Idaho (who, by the way, is like 20 feet taller than her), I was happy for her and excited but I was sad at the same time because that was it. She was no longer going to come live with me anymore. She was growing up too. She was starting her own life. But then she started to have babies. :) It was amazing. Although, we sometimes fight still. A few summers ago she tried to set me up on a date when I came to visit her and I didn't want to. I was so headstrong and stupid. A year after that I was in contact with the very person she wanted to set me up with and we had become friends. Haha, she is a smart cookie.

This past summer holds some of my favorite memories of me and my sister. We're at that point now that we're really good friends and we can talk about anything. I spent about a month with her and her family. I had a blast. She would wake me up in the morning singing "Rise and Shine and sing out your glory, glory!" at the very top of her lungs. She would get me to work out with her (yeah, she's talented). She taught me how to quilt and was patient enough to get me through it. She would do my makeup (She's a GENIUS!) and hair. She helped me find really cute clothes. We had so much fun together. Laughing at Audrina and her boyfriend on the Hills. Making obscure Friends references. Staying up real late then wakin up real early.

Jenn really is the best sister a teen like me could have. I know that she's always there when I need her and I take advantage of that. She's everything that I want to be when I grow up. An amazing wife and mother. I've never met someone like her. She's a spiritual giant (which is saying a lot because she's barely over 5 feet.) and an amazing guide to her children. She's changed over the years but you know what? She's still my sister and her changes are not bad. Words just can't really describe her. Or do her justice. I'm so lucky to have her. I wish she lived closer so that we could be together more but I guess the saying is true, time (and distance) make the heart grow fonder. :)

I love this woman. :)