The Coolest Sister

Before I enter my next taco entry, I'd like to take a little time and write about my sister. For male readers that don't have a sister, let me tell you, it's a sort of amazing relationship. It was her birthday yesterday. And as I fell over myself apologizing for forgetting, it's important to say that no brother has loved his sister more or forgotten her birthday with greater frequency. Jordan, you're amazing.

My family has three siblings. We're all very different people. Still, in any family with three kids, alliances are always formed and somehow, invariably, two of the siblings find themselves cut from closer cloth than others. That's Jordan and I. Call it disposition, common interest, or a certain sense of forgiveness (she's done more of it than I ever will)that I always felt made us better friends than just simply a familial bond. In other words, I'd want to be her friend even if she wasn't my sister. She's that cool.

When you're an older brother it seems at first natural to want to take care of your "little sister." And then, as you grow older, you want to pummel her with a pillow or wrestle her into a painful submission. Which I probably did. At some point you wish she had hot friends, and that they'd spend countless hours sunbathing along the edge of an aquamarine pool that you also wish you had. But she was always a little wacky and for some reason liked the same movies that I did (Grease, Bye Bye Birdie, Dirty Dancing--no, I'm actually a straight man, trust me on this). She wasn't afraid of a few fart jokes or a tepid box of take out pizza. She could throw a great fit and go nuclear with my mom. I'm not saying she was a Tom Boy. She was pure chick. We just connected in a unique way. Plus, we could blame stuff on my brother and maintain our super majority status, which is always cool.

There are just enough years between Jordan and I that our relationship exists in big bulk snapshots. She was 8 years old one day and 19 years old the next. And somewhere in between we kind of drifted apart, maybe back together again, and then apart until the next time. Suddenly she was a cheerleader--kicking away under the klieg lights in a small farming town. Then she was graduating from college. Then she was pregnant. Then she was a mother. I'm regretful of the fact that, for so many years, I knew her only in the context of these milestones rather than in the nuanced way we all live our lives. Still, at all of these junctions she was happy (which is different from care free) and easy to talk to, easy to laugh with, and instantly reminded me how blessed I was and am to have such a beautiful sister.

Every family has its ups and downs. That should go without saying. Our has, and I'm ashamed to say that I've contributed to the majority of them. But the older I get, the more I'm convinced that it's how a family deals with the adversity that reveals the strength of the tribe. After many difficult years, Jordan and I picked up just about where we left off. Brother and sister, friends, loved ones. She has always, always, been willing to set aside differences or flaws in the name of a higher good. It takes a lot of strength and maturity to do that. To go beyond petty. To see what's really important in a family: Love and Forgiveness. I respect you for that sis, and I love you for having that in you.

As you grow older, brother and sisters are different from parents and children. Moms and dads become friends with their children as they grow older. Authority disappears and is replaced by lessons and transparency. Plus, by the time you reach that point you've screwed up enough times to listen to their advice and know it's true. But with a brother or sister it's different. You're like Big/Little kids. So there's this constant play between the past and the present--Goofy Grown Ups. And its the Goofy that makes the Grown Up feel so much more refreshing. Jordan, you're a great Goofy Grown Up, and the only person I know that sends me quotes from "Stripes" to my cell phone ONLY to challenge my useless movie trivia knowledge. Two part question: What is the name of the man that fixes Lane Myers' broken ski, and WHAT is his physical condition?

So sis, I love you. From the bottom of my heart. When I tell people about my family I'm always proud when I tell them about you and your family, what an awesome mom you are, what a great friend you are, and how much I just think the world of you. I smile every time we talk, and I'm smiling right now. You're the best. Happy 19th birthday.