Laura

Today is my little sister Laura's birthday, and you know what that means...BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE! A word about the birthday tributes: A few months ago, I was thinking about my life and feeling so grateful. I kept thinking about how blessed I am to have such incredible family and friends--they are what make my life so rich and so special. I had the idea that I could write a personal history, not about me specifically, but rather about the people who have made me who I am. The idea came to me that, during 2013, I could write a birthday tribute on my blog for each of the people whom I love, and then I could bind them all in a book at the end of the year as a "personal history" to pass on to my children.

When I sat down and made a list of people whom I wanted to write about, I realized that I could not possibly write a tribute to all of the people whom I love.  I love a lot of people.  So I decided that, for now, I would limit this endeavor to family members (which is still a lot of people!).  I know these posts might not be interesting to everyone, but I hope they are meaningful to the people I am writing about--and I hope they will be meaningful to my children.  Most of all, writing these posts has been meaningful for me, as it has given me a chance to reflect on my life and put down in words how much I love these remarkable family members of mine.  I am truly so blessed.

As I flipped through my mom's photo albums to gather pictures for all of these posts, I kept coming across photos of me and my sisters that made me smile.  That became the inspiration for today's birthday tribute to my little Laura (who is not so little anymore--how can she possibly be 26 years old??).

This photo was taken on the day that Laura was born (or maybe a few days later when she came home from the hospital).  Don't I look a little bit thrilled to have a baby sister? 

I still feel that way when I think about my little sister.  She makes me happy--always has.  Last year, I wrote a sentimental post on her birthday about how she has always made me feel loved and needed. (She really has a talent for making people feel that way.) This year, I thought I would keep things a bit lighter and focus on another aspect of our relationship: how much fun we have together.

Laura has always been my favorite playmate, and as kids we spent hours playing dress up and coming up with fantasies and games together.  I have no memories of us ever fighting.  I'm sure it happened on occasion, but we were genuinely great friends and always got along very well.  Our bedrooms were connected by a "jack-and-jill" bathroom, and after Mom would put us to bed, we would sneak into each other's rooms to giggle or we would communicate in our "secret language" by whistling at each other through the darkness.  Childhood with Laura was fun.

Dressed up in Dad's pjs and Mom's bathrobe and turban from her cancer treatments

I made Laura a castle from a refrigerator box for her birthday

Our silliness and imaginative play continued into the teen years. I have memories of driving her home from school when I was a senior in high school and she was a freshman, and we would find a radio station playing classical orchestra and dramatically conduct the music, flailing our arms around and singing opera.  We would also honk at people who were walking their dogs and wave enthusiastically with huge grins on our faces so they would think that they knew us and wave back.  (For some reason, we thought this was just hilarious.)  I remember  whacking each other with our shopping bags when we went to the mall together, laughing like little kids though we were both teenagers.

Now that we are both sophisticated young women, we have totally outgrown our silliness.  We never act immature together.  Ever .;)

I love my little sis and am so grateful for the joy and fun she has brought to my life.  I hope we spend many more decades being immature and laughing together.  

Love you, Laury!  Happy birthday!!