Just For Today

I've been away from my blog for months now, working through some transitions at work and spending time on the house and yard.  Being a mom, a daughter, a sister, and an aunt.  Trying to find a few spare minutes just to get dinner made, let alone blog about it.  But just for today I need to find the time to tell my sister "Happy Birthday", and thank her for being my very best friend since the day I was born.

If you visit our friend's site, you will see an amazing tribute to her there as well.  I see the pictures of Kristi with Tracy's daughters and I vividly remember feeling like I was the luckiest little girl in the world, when I was a little girl like them.  She took me to the beach and for walks in the woods.  She taught me how to make things with my own two hands, and gave me things she had made that no one else in the world could have come up with.  She encouraged me to be creative and strong and kind. 

When she got pregnant with my nephew it was the happiest day of many of our lives, but also sad because we knew that meant she wouldn't be able to attend my wedding.  She still made every effort to send her love my way, and was with me every step down the aisle.  When I got pregnant a year later it was simply amazing, because we knew our kids would get to grow up together, and they are truly like brothers.  Being 11 years apart it was wild that we would have kids just two years apart.  Things like that just seem to work out somehow.

Through every hardship I have had in life, ending that marriage, moving back in with our parents while building a new home, struggling for custody of my son, thinking that my life was truly over, she has been my world.  No doctor, counselor, parent or friend could have helped me heal quite the same way she did.

No matter the miles between us, I still feel her next to me every day.  We've claimed to have some witchy powers between us; we email each other at exactly the same minute, end up buying the same things at Target even though our stores are 200 miles apart.  But really, it's just love.  A rare love between sisters that not everyone gets to experience.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without that love.

How lucky this world has been to have you in it for these last 50 years.  And how much we all look forward to spending 50 more with you by our side.

I love you, dear sister.  Happy Birthday.