Go to Gal

Do you have a person in your life that saves your bacon? Not literally of course, but figuratively keeps you from looking like a drooling, spazzy idiot, even when you truly ARE a drooling, spazzy idiot. I do.

My sister, S. And I should include her husband, J. in this as well. Although all things might not apply in the things I'm going to say. Suffice it to say that he's her wing man and he gets much of the credit too. I just haven't known him as long.

S. has been my sister, my friend, my savior, my person to bounce my crazy ideas, theories and opinions off. She is kind. She is never judgmental. She doesn't dwell on negative things. Sure, she gets upset, angry and grouchy, she's just really good at hiding it. And she never brings other people down. I, on the other hand, tend to be an emotional vampire, but I do look to her good example when I need to know how to act in important situations.

While growing up, I treated her terribly. I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, bathed in my own shame at treating someone that badly. I used to make her walk behind me on the way to the bus stop. I sometimes would beat her up. I was not very nice to her much of the time. And instead of fighting back, you know what she did? She loved me. Plain and simple, she just kept loving me. And I am still trying to figure that one out.

S. still loves me. She's picked me up off the floor. She still answers the phone when I call. I have no idea why, I wouldn't.

S. works harder than anyone else I know. With her trusty side-kick, J. She runs not one, not two, but three businesses. She is incredibly brave to me. She can take an idea and run with it. I know she worries, but her business acumen has just one premise, which is - being kind to people. It seems to serve her very well. People love her. She rarely entertains conflict. She's no wimp, but she does assume the best about people. I cannot think of a single person I know that has more Christ-like qualities than my sister. She is amazingly modest, self effacing and humble. Sometimes, too much so. She has no idea how much other people admire her. I just don't think it occurs to her. But it should. I wish she would say to herself more often, "darn it, I am an amazing person." It would totally be out of character for her, but it would be neat to see.

She's been a force of nature since she was a very small child. People just naturally gravitated to her. My favorite story about S. is when she was in the 4th or 5th grade, she noticed that one of her friends wasn't eating lunch every day. A little digging revealed that the girl's family was struggling financially. She had nothing to bring to eat, no money to buy lunch, and her electricity had been turned off. S. began taking extra food with her to school. And, even though things were tight at our own home, arranged to help pay the girl's family's electric bill. And she's done things like this her whole life. Sure, other folks think about doing things like that, my sister does them. She's a do-er.

She is an incredible mom. Her kids are great people, too. She works tirelessly to make sure they have everything they need. She's got 4 either teenager or nearly teenage kids for Pete's sake - and she is still smiling. I have one child, and I feel like I am doing the worst job on the planet. S. is a great mom. She would probably tell you that she isn't, but she is. Her kids are nice, smart, clean, caring people and they didn't get that way by accident. I have never met two people who are more of a team in their marriage than S. and J. If I need a good example, they are who I look to.

I do not know what I would do without my sister. I am certainly glad I wasn't successful in killing her when we were small children. Without a doubt, if I didn't have her, I wouldn't be here typing this today. She's my friend, my sounding board, my good example, my run-away-from-home partner, my let's-build-a-treehouse-with-dad's-rubber-mallet buddy, my can-you-please-watch-my-kid-'cause-I'm-late-coming-home-from-work person, my-I-don't-have-to-explain-a-thing-but-just-laugh-along-with-me-crazy-neurotic friend. She's my sister and I am a lucky girl to have her in my life. And whether she knows it or not, she saves my bacon nearly every single day.