Thirty-Something (one to grow on)

Today's my little sister's birthday. We weren't always good friends, Becky and I. Truth be told, I was a mean and horrible big sister when we were growing up. She can tell you stories about the horrible-big-sister things I did, some of which I have conveniently blocked from my memory. Still, despite my failures during our early years, I always loved her and we did have some good times together. I hope she knows how glad I am to have her as mysister! So, in lieu of birthday cake, which is fairly difficult to easily transmit via Internet, a random list of stuff you might never need to know about me, Becky, horrible-big-sisterness and grown-up good times:

1. She knows why I cannot be trusted in a McDonald's drive through.

2. The moment I really got over my horrible-big-sisterness happened in the parking lot of a doctor's office after my first-ever visit to a gynecologist. I had to tell her something I didn't want to tell her but had to be told anyway, and you know? She didn't freak out, and we acted like grown ups even though we weren't, yet, really, and things were always better after that.

3. One of my favorite pictures of Becky and me, from Kaleb's blessing day:

4. 
   

5. She used to be afraid of dogs, but maybe she is over that.

6. Runs-From-Dogs Story: Once upon a time, Becky and I were riding bikes. As we came down the hill near our house, some dogs started chasing us. She started screaming and shaking and doing a little I'm-scared-out-of-my-mind dance, having dumped the bike. Then she ran inside a complete stranger's house. I continued riding my bike home. My intentions were to get my mom and/or dad, but until a few months ago she thought I just left her there.

7. Ask each of us what my first floor routine music was and we'll each give a different answer. One day I need to just dig out the tape and figure it out. Except: while I still have the tape of my floor-routine music (thereby keeping any "I'm in the middle of a gymnastics meet and I forgot my floor exercise music" dreams at bay) and could put it into your hands in approximately eight minutes, I no longer have a tape player to play it on.

8. Speaking of gymnastics dreams? We both have them.

9. And. I could call her and say "last Tuesday I dreamed I had a baby" (I did) and she would know exactly how I feel, and the conversation would spin on for hours after that.

10. If I could give her anything for her birthday, it would be her own daughter.

11. She had a really bad club foot as a baby. I remember the day she left with Mom to have a surgery and I was so jealous of her, getting to go to the hospital and whatever else I thought was special about having your leg/calf/ankle sliced open and put back together, that I said something really mean. I can't remember what the mean thing was, but I still remember watching her start to cry, and how I felt less jealous but also considerably more horrid. Told you: horrible big sister.

12. When I was pregnant with Haley, my two older sisters were also pregnant, and I always felt like Becky got left out of the pregnant-with-your-sister thing. Until she was pregnant with her son Ben, and I was pregnant with Kaleb. We got to be pregnant together! I loved being able to commiserate and appreciate pregnancy together.

13. Our youngest sons are about three months apart in age, and whenever Kaleb is listing off his friends (something he does quite often, counting them on his fingers as he names them), he never forgets Ben in his list.

14. Many of my gymnastics memories have her at their fringes. I still feel bad that I, having figured out that the meanness our coach Jack exhibited during our daily workouts---the meanness that terrified her---was nothing more than a training technique, didn't ever clue her in and let her know she didn't have to be afraid of him. He was only trying to scare her into doing her handstands the right way.
15. We both have high foreheads and forehead veins. The veins pulse when we are laughing, happy, stressed, or angry. (Julia Roberts also has a forehead vein, were you curious.)
16. We both have English degrees, only from competing universities (hers is from the University of Utah, mine is from BYU). We graduated in the same year, 1999.
17. I call Haley "Becky" all the time. It's a miracle she doesn't think her name is "Beck-I-Mean-Haley."
18. I once spent a night sleeping on her couch while her cat sat on the back of the couch, hissing at me every time I rolled over. OK, maybe "sleeping" isn't the right word for what happened that night. Still, Becky has gorgeous kitties and I love even the one who hissed at me all night.
19. When we hiked Timp together, we both brought notebooks in our backpacks but both felt sheepish until we each confessed. Then we sat on the top of the mountain and wrote.
20. We shared a bedroom until I was twelve. Or maybe thirteen. At night, while we were trying to fall asleep, we'd play the "I'm her, I get him" game, listing famous women we got to be and famous men we got to get. I totally got the best guys. Because I was mean.
21. One day we were playing in the boat in the garage. I can't remember the entire context of our game, but I told her she needed to go into the house and say this to our mom: "Amy's gone, gone with the wind like Scarlett O'Hara." Except she said "like Scarlett O Well."
22. Once, when we were at Lake Powell, she dropped my favorite pink shirt in the lake and it was lost forever. Mean Big Sister was out in full force that day.
23. She told me a few weeks ago that she used to sneak into my bedroom and listen to my tapes. She had to sneak because I would have killed her otherwise. Now if we could just figure out which song from my music she loved but can't remember, it'd be all good.
24. Sometime I should ask her: Did she hate ringlets as much as I hated ringlets? Because, seriously: I hated ringlets.
26. Once, when Kendell and I were dating, he was teasing Becky. They were outside in our front yard, rough housing and laughing, and a policeman stopped because he thought Kendell was attacking her. This still makes me giggle!
27. Speaking of. Becky is WAY better at keeping a clean house than I am, which makes me think that maybe Kendell chose the wrong Allman girl.
28. When I bought my camera, she bought my old one, and she's first in line for my current camera when I buy a new one.
29. We ran a half marathon together in 2003. She came with me but wasn't really ready yet, especially for an all-downhill course. I don't think her quads have ever forgiven me.
30. My family went to Las Vegas nearly every summer when we were growing up. One of my clearest Vegas memories: going to the water park with Becky. The one that was right on the strip (don't know if it's still there or not). This might have been the first vacation we went on without our two older sisters coming along.
31. Another vacation memory: we drove to northern California the summer after sixth grade. On the way, we stayed the night in Reno, then drove to Lake Tahoe where we were going to eat breakfast. Becky and I both got carsick. Every time Haley starts to feel carsick, I remember sitting in the back seat with Becky on that winding road, trying not to throw up.
32. Becky and I have similar taste in books. Whenever we talk on the phone, one of us will ask what the other is reading.
33. Last Christmas Becky made this gorgeous holiday wall hanging. I am totally borrowing her pattern this fall. We both made a nativity quilt, only they turned out completely different. At least, I think they did...I just realized that I've never seen hers. Obviously we both like to quilt. She's much better at piecing than I am, having managed to perfect the triangle. (My triangles never turn out right.)
34. Becky's dedication to her faith is inspiring to me. She just goes about quietly living it, without being judgmental of anyone. She and I both went through a rebel-against-the-church phase, only hers was much milder and shorter than mine. The wisdom she's gathered since then continues to help me, too.
35. All of our shared history means that we can catch each other's eye at appropriate moments, give a roll or a head shake, and know exactly what the other one is thinking. I didn't know as a child just how blessed I would be to have her as my younger sister, but I am certainly grateful now!

(And, if you know Becky, or even if you are just mildly curious, you could visit her blog to wish her a happy birthday!) 

Comments

[Janssen]

What a lovely post. I am grateful to have two sisters who I almost always get along with (now).

[Becky]

You are so nice. I am sucking at blogging today, and your post just made me smile.

I'm very, very grateful we are sisters. And that we weren't always friends so we have lots of good things to laugh about now that we are. Thanks for the beautiful post!!! You are the best.

[Lucy]

I have loved getting to know Becky. I love the pictures of you together. I hope she has a great day. It was fun to see her through your eyes.

[jamie `]

I HAVE noticed Julia robert's forehead!

I shared a room with my younger sister for years and have a few terrible big sister moments myself. I used to talk on my pink phone endlessly late at night and when she would moan for me to stop so she could sleep I would say mean stuff about her being a big baby and refuse to get off. so selfish! AND I had a squeaky bed that I hated so I secretly switched beds and when she questioned the sudden squeakiness of her bed I told her it was all in her head... I was just moving every time she was so what she was hearing was MY bed squaking not HERS. It was all just a big coincidence that she was hearing squeaks every time she moved. I was mean AND I was a liar.

I am lucky because she has forgiven me and loves me still and we, too, are very close. In fact she just came to visit for a week and I loved every minute of it.

[Britt]

I've been hissed at by one of Becky's cats! The darn thing kept acting like it liked me, but then it would hiss at me if I tried to be its friend.

This is a really awesome post honoring your sister! Very sweet!