Today's post is dedicated to my sister Stephanie. Happy 29th Birthday little
middle sister!
I love so much about my Sneffelupagus...
She is loving, thoughtful, kind and generous.
She can be silly.
She is organized. I love that.
She is gorgeous but not arrogant.
She is fearless. She will share her pain and sorrows if she thinks it can help someone else.
She is not materialistic and I love that.
She values people for who they are, not for what they have or do.
She insists on her own transparency in an unyielding quest for authenticity, and cares not if other people are uncomfortable with it, because to her own self she must be true.
She is one of the most passionate people I know, including myself. She is all in, or all out.
She is an amazing friend, and one of the things that frustrates me to no end is when I see people in her life who do not understand how lucky they are to have her for a friend. The other frustration is people who do not let her know how valuable and irreplaceable she is.
She is extremely smart and just a bit little crafty - not in the "let's do paper mache" type of crafty but in the wily way. The planning, organizing and sometimes conniving sort of way. There is always so much going on in that mind of hers, you can never be sure what is up her sleeve. I love that. If you need something to do, talk to Stephy.
She does not wait for other people to start things, if she sees a need, she takes care of it.
When she was born, I wanted my mom to name her Simone - some exotic french name from a book I read... I was very upset she called her Stephanie because I had 2 Stephanie's in my class at school and they were not the nicest girls...I still call her Simone in my head sometimes...
She was the CUTEST toddler. She had these chubby cheeks that did not stick around long enough.
She grew at an alarming rate (to my young mind anyway). In the earliest years I remember the only complaint I had was her whiny high pitched voice, especially when she was fighting with someone.
She also would SING, all. the. time. Seasame street songs mostly. Annoying.
Singing is something we had in common. I didn't excel in any sports though, and she did.
Among many other things that she excelled in.
She had that confusing and difficult struggle in life - The "being good at so many things - what do I commit to?" struggle. tough huh?
She was fun, kind of goofy and easy to please... I'm not sure what happened...lol - just kidding! What happened was our youngest 2 sisters came along.
She is a survivor.
Her comfy world got jostled up. Not quite old enough to hang with the older 2 sisters, and not young enough to cut into the younger 2 - smack in the middle, she did what she had to do...
She got bossy.
But the all or nothing girl wasnt just bossy with her sisters and the dog and cat, she bossed all the neighbourhood kids around too. I remember seeing Stephanie at the head of a line of about 15 various kids, barking orders... walking to the "clubhouse" - a cluster of trees...those kids rarely revolted against her. Though to this day, I don't know why they listened to her. It must have been fun. She would write plays and musicals and they'd act them out for us and any grown ups she could wrangle into lawn chairs. I think she may even have charged admission...
This is how I remember her after her cute cheeks thinned out. She was a whirling dirvish. Always on the move. So much so that her clothes often looked like they were about to fall off...of course she was so thin, they probably were. Her hair was never in place, but she was ready with a smile, and a twinkle in her eye.
In some ways, Stephanie is a lot like me. She thinks (and acts) like an oldest child, with the younger ones. But she never gave me a hard time...well not too much that I remember. Perhaps I've blocked that out.
Anyways, when I left home for school, she was 11. When I got married, she was 13...and she almost missed my wedding, for which she was the soloist...because she had a track meet. I think she won something that day, so I forgave her.
A few years passed, she grew up and I pretty much only saw her during the holidays and sporadic visits. During that time she developed her bossiness into "leadership" qualities. Love her. She also kept singing, and followed me to Niagara - she went to the school I worked in and lived with us. With only a few bumps of adjustment, we shared a short couple of years together before she met her husband and I had my boys.
She is extremely creative - it puts me to shame. She is a writer, a song writer, performer, actress, program developer, publisher, team creator and entrepreneur - having started her own business, she's basically done her best with what she had since leaving home, and done pretty darn good.
She reminds me of our dad...a lot.
She is stubborn, or tenacious. I guess it's all in how you look at it.
She has very high expectations of herself, but not of others as much.
She is loyal, but if you cross her, good luck.
She married a strong man who challenges her - just like dad picked our mom.
She is proud to be Greek. She is extremely committed to family.
She is a fun aunt, who always has a plan for the kids at family gatherings at her house.
She works hard and inspires many.
She will be an incredible mom.
She is my sister, but she is one of my best friends.
I am lucky to have her in my life.
My birthday blessing to my little sister is to enjoy this next season of life fully.
To have peace and contentment, fulfilment and joy in the smallest things, because they are the best things really.
I hope to spend many more hours doing life together with you in the years to come, because you make my life better simply by being in it.
I love you!!!
Happiest of Birthdays!
