Birthday Shout-Outs

My Ate celebrated her 37th yesterday- whoo hoo! 'Tis funny thing about my sis- people whom we meet for the first time always mistake us for twins OR that I'm older than her! Truth is, we're 7 years apart! We look so much like each other, but people say that my sis looks like my dad and I look more like my mom...but we still look like twins. Eh??? That always confused me.

My sis and I are best friends, but that was never always the case. In fact, it wasn't only until my college years that we got really tight. When I was younger, I totally looked up to her. But of course in her eyes, I was more of the "tag-along" sister that tattle-taled on her more times than probably was deserved. Up until her grad in college, we shared a bedroom with twin beds. Lol! Whenever I see twin beds nowadays, it's hilarious to see how small they really are! For the most part, we got along well for sisters. We'd have our nightly tournament of Rummy under our fort of blankets-and she wouldn't let me win. Had to toughen me up by letting me lose, I suppose. Shiet. When I got into grade school, things changed up a bit. My sis had turned out to be the smart one in the family. Seriously. All thru elementary, she got A's with the occasional B (oh horrors!). When she got to high school, she was top of her class for the entire four years. Geez, how do you compete with that? Truth be told, I couldn't. When I got to Kindergarten, the teacher thought I was "advanced" for my age and when I got to 1st grade, they wanted me to skip a grade 'cuz I read well. There was no grade skipping of the sort, but in the years that followed, my grades coincided with the beginning of the alphabet- A's, B's, and C's. I think my parents began to see that academically, I couldn't be like my sis. But that didn't stop them from trying to compare me to her all the time. For the most part, I had begun to resent being her sister for a long time. By the time I got to high school, I had this love-hate relationship with her. She was more like a 2nd mother, rather than a sister. When I was finally allowed to go out on Friday nights and weekends, she made sure I adhered to my curfew time...and if I didn't, she'd really let me have it. Those years were tough, I'll admit. Not to say that I was the "bad girl" of the family, but compared to her, I was a rebel. I'm the one that gave my parents all the headaches. Of course, I realize NOW that they just wanted the best for me, blah, blah, blah, but at the time...well, ya'll know how it goes.

But all that is past now. Today, she's the bestest friend I can and ever will have. Sure, we still have our differences and yes, I'll always be "the little sister," but the fact that we're friends as well as sisters has made all the difference. After she got married and moved out of the house, I got lonely and realized how much I missed her. Then, after she had her first child, I saw her in a whole different light. Plus, having actually been there to see the birth of Bina, I had a deeper respect for her as well. Moving to MN has been difficult in terms of not being near any family. It's reassuring that I'm able to call home anytime I want, but it's still not the same. I probably talk to my sis about the same amount as I did when we were living in Foster City. The only difference is, we can't visit each other as often as we'd like. It's totally something I've had to get used to and yes, I still get homesick here and there. But I'm looking forward to my sis and her family coming out here to MN next month for a few days.

In any case, I guess I could go on about my sis- I've got tons of stories! I wish I could've been with my sis to celebrate her birthday, but we'll have to have a belated celebration when she gets here. Happy Happy 37th Birthday Ate! Love and miss you...