because you are my sister

There's only one woman in this world who calls me her sister. She is the youngest of my three siblings and because she wasn't born until I was 16, in many ways we did not grow up together. I got married when she was 3...and at the same time, my family moved to Texas, so the bulk of her growing up years didn't include me.

I missed out.

As she became an adult, it became a little easier to make up for the time we lost and I have loved every moment. It's a little weird because we are very much alike, in so many ways. I like to think she's the younger, cuter, brassier, fun version of me.

A while back I made this list.



Because you are my sister.

I love you more than my own life.

I will hold your hair back when you puke.

I will hold your child and let you sleep.

I will drive the getaway car.

I will not tell Dad. Or Mom. Or worse, Andy and Daniel.

I will tell you that you are beautiful, because I know it’s true.

I will keep your secrets.

I will help you hide the body.

I will bring the gun to the fight.

I will tell you if the jeans make your backside look huge.

I will give you my last dollar and my last Diet Coke.

I will cry for you and with you. Both kinds of tears.

I will celebrate your happinesses and mourn your losses.

I will defend you to anyone who dares to think less of you than they ought.

I will testify to your courage and your strength when you forget who you are.

I will hold your hand when it trembles and believe in you when no one else does.

I will say the hard things if you need to hear them.

I will sit with you in the quiet and just be.

I will pray over you every day…even from many miles away.

I will dream for you when your way seems cluttered with just surviving today.

I will share the last spoonful of coconut pie and the last bite of mom’s cole slaw.

I will spend 44 cents to send you a fifty cents off coupon.

I will cry and think of you when a happy song comes on the radio.

I will forgive you for the oven and remind you of it often. No, really.

I will share my 324 chicken salad sandwich recipes, and half my chicken salad sandwich.

I will always buy our drinks at Sonic. And Starbucks. And Fresh.

I will always think of you when peeling shrimp.

I will love your child with every fiber of my being, because he is you.

I will lift you up with the darkness threatens.

I will say the words you need to hear and swallow the ones you don’t.

I will love you forever.

I will respect you even though I know you ate dirt when you were three and gave yourself a horrid haircut the day before my wedding.

I will understand when you choose to go to a baseball game on the day that I arrive in town..no, really. I will. But I will also bring it up when I need some leverage.

I will answer your texts at 1am.

I will always be your sister.

I will believe in your dreams always.

I will see the woman you are becoming and be undenyably proud.

Because I am your sister.