Betty and Judy

  

Today’s post isn’t full of wisdom and it’s not a witty story; today is just about being thankful. 
Thankful for one specific person.   

My sister.

Some of you may be thinking, “…but she’s an only child!”  Technically, yes, I’m an only child.  One day I hope to meet my brothers and sisters in heaven (there are 4 of them).  Thankfully, the Lord knew (as He always does) that I would need a couple of people to fill the gap for me while I’m on this earth.  One of them is an incredible man who calls me sister; perhaps I’ll write about him one day.  Today, however, I choose to honor a woman who means the world to me.

I met her in 1992.  She was the girlfriend (soon-to-be wife) of a friend of mine.  We barely spoke the first few times that we saw each other.  There was some semi-awkward shared history there and when you’re a teenager (as we both were), you don’t always handle those sorts of situations very well.   After a few initial meetings, I didn’t see her or speak to her for a couple of years.  

In the spring of 1994, I found myself needing to communicate with her again.   I had fallen head over heels for the love of my life and we were planning to marry in less than a year.  The catch?  I was marrying the older brother of my friend…that friend that she married.  With a teeny bit of hesitation, my man and I called, told both of them that we would be getting married, and asked if they would be able to make the trip out from Colorado; we needed a best man!  They came, of course, and she and I became family.

True sisterhood didn’t happen overnight, nor can I pinpoint a specific time when our relationship shifted.  It seemed to happen naturally over time.  As our kids grew, they started spending more time with us when they were out here and we started making trips out there as we were able.  We started talking on the phone more which eventually (thanks to the invention of smart phones) led to texting.  Somewhere along the way, the conversations turned from the pleasantries of shared family to the nitty gritty of real life.  At some point, we started actually doing life together.  

As an only child herself, she “gets” me in ways that no one else does.  She knows the real me, both the good and the ugly, more than anyone else on the planet (with the exception of my husband).  We share many of the same crazy tendencies, yet we’re so very different.  We laugh together.  We cry together.  We annoy the crap out of each another.  We’re honest with each other, we keep each other accountable, and we give each other grace.  She makes me a better person.  I can’t imagine my life without her and I truly wish that I had more time to spend with her.  The mister and I are hoping to live out there in the not too distant future; I want to grow old with her.  She’s everything that I would have asked for if I were creating a sister.  Sisters by birth is pretty amazing, I’m sure – but sisters by choice…it’s a wonderful thing.

Thank you, Jaime, for calling me sister. 
And thank you for going to Canada, fetching my favorite candy bars, and sending them to me.   

Your Happy Day gifts are always perfect and they seem to arrive just when I need them the most.

Thank you for being you.

I love you.