My Sister

Some of you may not be aware of this, but today, March 29th, was a national holiday of sorts in the States.  Now, before you go flip out your calendar to see what the day is, I will warn you that you won't find it printed there.  Well, unless you are my sister, that is.  You see, today is "Amanda Appreciation Day."

I need to confess something to you.  My family has a problem.  More of an obsession, really.  Most all of us are pretty crazy about our birthdays.  We remind people MONTHS before it is here that it is coming up. When the time gets closer to "our day" we get really annoying talking about it.  We just plain love our birthdays.  My brother Andrew is the worst.  He has always loved his birthday.  And it still is just so ironic that when he and his wife were planning their wedding day, the only day that seemed to work the best was June 5 - Andrew's birthday.  So, Andrew will forever remember his anniversary because it is the same day as his birthday.

Anyways, we love our birthdays.  But when my sister was younger, she got this idea that her birthday took longer to come than everyone else's.  I suppose it is because everyone else in our immediate family has a birthday near the first half of the year.  Mine is February, my mom and 2 other brothers' are in April (along with a whole whack of other family members), and my dad and Andrew are in June.  Amanda has to wait all the way until October.  October 8th to be exact!  So, since her birthday took so much "longer" to come than everyone else's, she decided quite a few years ago that she was going to have a "half-birthday" of sorts.  Thus began Amanda Appreciation Day.

You want to know what the dumb thing is?  She actually gets cards and gifts on this day!!!!!  Somehow, little Amanda has wormed her way into people's hearts and minds, and they treat today almost as if it were her birthday!  For goodness sake!

I personally refuse to give her a gift or card.  I mean, really.  I don't know how many years she has been doing this, but it has to be at least 10 years!  Seriously....

Last night I was all set in bed getting ready to sleep when my phone made a "beep" that I hadn't heard before.  I picked up my cell phone and it was reminding me of the "Upcoming event of Amanda Appreciation Day."  I just sat there, staring at my phone, trying to wonder how in the world my phone knew that!  I mean, it is a SMART phone, but really?  I was confused.  And then it dawned on me.  Something you need to know about my sister is this - never, EVER leave your phone or camera unattended in her presence.  I made that mistake over Christmas break.  Until yesterday I only thought she had taken a picture of herself with my phone and changed the wallpaper on it from a pic of my sweet daughter to the pic she took of herself.  But no.  Now I know she entered "her" day in there!  The sneaky little twit! Who knows what else she may have put in there!  Ha!

But, after saying all that, I do have one thing to say.  I appreciate my sister.  Actually, I more than appreciate her.  I love her.  There would have been a time when we were younger that I would have said she was annoying and I hated that she would follow me around and want to do what I did.  I hated that we shared a room.  I wanted my space.  But those feelings have long since past.

Next to my husband, my sister is my best friend.  She knows me so well.  There are often times that we don't even have to say anything and we know exactly what each other is thinking.  We have SO MANY inside jokes that even our poor husbands don't understand.  There are secrets we have that we would never tell anyone else.  I can talk to her about anything, and she never makes me feel stupid for thinking something.  She is wonderful with my children, and they love her and talk about her all the time.  She is always willing to help me with whatever I need.

Our daughter, Leila, is named after Amanda - they share the same middle name, Claire.  Amanda was able to be with me at the birth of Leila, and the look on Manda's face when I told her that Leila was being named after her was something I will always remember.  I HATE it that she lives so far away in the nice, sunny, warm (don't get me started on the snow we are due to get this weekend...) island of Saba.  I miss her a lot and secretly pray that once her husband is done with med school and residency that they will move somewhere within a short driving (or walking!!!!!) distance from us.  So, ya.  I guess I appreciate Amanda.

Amanda, I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you.  I am enjoying watching you grow into the beautiful woman that you are.  Its neat seeing you now as a wife, going through all the same stuff that I did just a year or two ago.  I love seeing you be such a capable nurse and I know you are going to be a totally awesome mommy someday.  I think about you all the time, pray for you constantly, and miss you so much.  There are so many times when I think of something funny that I know only you would totally get.  I always want to say, "So, do you like cheese?" but Matt doesn't find it as funny as we do.  And even though I still think it is crazy that you have an appreciation day when even Mom and Dad send you cards, I want you to know that I appreciate you.  I love ya and can't wait until you are back "on the mainland" and I can spend some more time with you!  LUBIRUBIGATCHA!

Alright, enough of this "gooey show of emotion."  Happy Amanda Appreciation Day everyone!

Until next time...