My Sister...

As I said goodbye to my sister, Sarah who left for Korea yesterday I thought back on our childhood. I thought about how close we were growing up! We always shared a room and never really were without each other. As we were growing up we constantly nagged our mom for our own rooms and yet I'm so grateful for the one we shared. We learned to do everything together, such as cleaning our room which meant pushing "her stuff" to "her side" of the room...If I remember correctly at one time there was actually a line! hahaha :) We had to wash dishes together (literally wash by hand, as we still to this day don't know why as we owned a dishwasher?) That meant arguments on who was going to wash and who was going to dry...we managed not to kill each other in the kitchen though ;) Funny how this is the stuff I remember. But the good stuff like painting our room, covering it in Backstreet/N'sync posters, hanging dragonfly door beads, sticking glow-in-the-dark stars on every inch, and last but not least hanging records up to cover an entire wall!!! :) My fondest memories were when we were just together! Playing in the yard, late night talks, spending the night and Nana and Gpa's house, swimming 24/7, trip to Florida, Trick-or-treating in SVL, trips to Biola to visit her at college, the drive through the mountains of Colorado to see her ( 2 months prego and nauseous over the smell of cows!). The list would just go on and on!

The reality of growing up does suck! You go to school, make friends, and then learn to grow independently :( However, through all the fights of who is "cooler", who has better grades, who is not grounded, who has less homework, who can sit in the front seat, who can go out later, who can drive the car (as we shared that too), and my favorite... who is going to graduate first (haha...of course she graduated with me!). Looking back on our senior year, it was a tough one for us, but well worth it as our relationship now is the best because of it! Sure we didn't share friends or any of the "best" memories of high school....but they really weren't as great as we thought they were then. In fact, none of that even matters! We love each other and picked up right were we left off as we began 2 different lives! Anyone will say those are the best friendships when nothing will ever get in the way and you can go on like time never got away with anything! :)

My sister left for college and by the time she graduated I had married and had my first daughter. Needless to say we chose very different lives but shared it all. She was definitely one of the first to arrive to the hospital as her niece wanted to come at 4am, no one knows how she made it from La Mirada to Victorville in less than an hour!!! :) My husband and I were there with Rhaylee sporting her Biola T-shirt as Sarah graduated and even the delicious celebration at Rutabegorz! When she was in Korea for the birth of her second niece she was on Skype at 2am and on the phone with me just after she arrived!!! :) The best part of all of that is my girls and I made sure not to miss her arrival home as we met her at the airport and she got to hold Taelyn for the first time!!! I'll never forget that!

I'm so proud of Sarah! She is doing exactly what she has wanted to do...what God's plan for her was!!! She graduated at Biola University, traveled to Korea to teach, just found the love of her life, Randy, and married him not too long ago, and just arrived in Korea this morning (again) to teach with her husband and love on some people that need Jesus! Man, I love that girl!!!! Missing her tremendously already! :(

When I look at my two daughters I can already see their relationship beginning! :) When I struggle with keeping them off of each other I am immediately reminded of the wrestling matches between Sarah and I. When they stay up giggling and talking at night I just smile and tell my husband "It drove my dad nuts too!". When I see them kiss and hug I tear up knowing exactly what that sisterly love is all about! When I see them dancing all over the place and jumping on the couches like gymnasts I think back to our love for the Olympics and how one day we were going to be like Kristi Yamaguchi and Shannon Miller (Halloween costumes one year!) :D I'm so thankful that I have Rhaylee and Taelyn and that every day I am reminded of my sister! So much so, that occasionally I see so much of Sarah's personality and "attitude" in them it's a little weird! hahaha
I love my sister with all my heart and I can only hope to pass that down to my girls and one day hear about how much they too love each other! One of God's greatest blessings is a sister!

So with all that said...please hurry home so I can tackle you with a hug! ;)