In fact here are the Top 5 Things I Love about J...
# 5 - My beautiful sister NEVER ages. NEVER. And I'm not just talking about how she is perpetually 35 in my mind (pay no attention to the fact that I am now 52 and she is older.) My brain has her at 35 for all time. I can't explain this, but that isn't the point I'm trying to make here. Other than hairstyle she looks the same today as she did in college. See? Here she is (I think I've circled the right girl!) in a Glee Club (back when Glee meant a Glee Club and not the show) from college. She still looks the same! I love this about her because I am counting on those same really good young genes to have passed to me, too!
# 3 - She is the best gosh darned aunt my kids could have ever asked for. I, on the other hand, am the worst gosh darned aunt her kids could have ever asked for. But J? Remembers every event and date and is always there with a hug and an encouraging note of love.
# 2 - She is the best gosh darned sister I could ever ask for. We have been called twins 14 years apart ever since I was born, and in some ways she can be another mother for me. But she is my sister first and foremost - full of support and encouragement and love and advice (but not too much!). We live closer together now that at any other time in our adult lives, but we still don't get to see each other often enough, because there is no other person in the world who is your sister. She is, in fact, the only living blood relative remaining from our birth family, so we gotta hold on a bit tighter to each other for that reason alone if nothing else.
And the # 1 thing I love about J (that I can think of at the moment) is her laugh. It is free and joyous and full of life. And according to some people, we share the same laugh, right W? J is supposed to come to town the weekend of March 8, and I am looking forward to laughing together...and W is looking forward to watching us laugh together - in the same way....
Now for the Top 5 Things I would give J for her birthday if time and money and resources were no object...
# 5 - A big old family reunion! We last did this in 2010, and that means it has been too long! Why just look at that picture. I can think of four people that weren't even in our lives at that point that now are. We gotta make this happen again sometime soon!
# 4 - This wouldn't really be as much a gift for J as it would be a gift for me and the world, but somehow to take all of this good marriage experience and knowledge that these two people house as husband and wife and make it available to everyone. These two are poster children for Oneness in Marriage. They have been together for 44 years - this June will be 45 years - and they are still very much in love. You can't hardly say J's name without also saying G's at the same time - they just sorta come out as J&G every time. Thank you for making marriage such an important priority and living that out as an example to your daughters, to me, to my kids, and to the world.
# 3 - Pictures of us together. I don't have any where near enough. Let's make more!!!
# 2 - Her own quilting and sewing Mecca where time and all other responsibilities cease to exist. J is an AMAZING seamstress. If it is fabric and thread, she can make it happen. J doesn't just sew. J creates beauty and love in every stitch, be that a baby blanket or quilt, a knitted scarf, a parament for the church, or curtains for your home. For her sewing is all about creating beauty and giving love and honoring the gifts and talents our God gave her.
And the # 1 thing I would give J for her birthday if time, money and resources were no object...
...another version of that super-sonic train that I wanted to give A for her birthday, so that we could be at each other's houses in no time flat the next time we are baking something and just need to get advice from our sister or just be able to share it over a cup of hot tea and a smile. Or the next time we have a game night and just need to giggle as sisters. Or so I could stow away in one of her pieces of luggage at the last minute for J&G's next overseas adventure. (I'm sure they would never know.)
I love you bunches, J. I am so very glad God saw to it to make us sisters. I hope you have a most wonderful birthday and that this holds you until my card gets there, cause yes, I am late yet again. Sigh...but please think of it as extending your day.
Happy! Happy! Birthday to J with much love!
D
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