Thirteen years ago yesterday, my sister Catherine and I were being rushed out of our house so my parents could go to the hospital. I remember standing on the doorstep at 4 a.m. of the people who were going to take care of us, thinking we woke them up and they would be so unhappy.
The following afternoon, on March 29, we learned we had a new baby sister. Another ginger.
The little baby with the button nose that scrunched up when she cried, who would be content hanging out in her bouncy seat for hours at a time, is a teenager now. By process of elimination, I am old.
My baby sister is probably the smartest person I know. Arguably, she is the most reasonable person in our family, and she always looks at things critically or gives you a look if you’re wrong. Cause she knows when you’re wrong, even if you don’t.
One night, I was watching Jeopardy with her, my brother, and my next door neighbor, and Alex asked a question that left Jake and I pondering for a second. Mary Stuart didn’t even think about it before yelling it out–and she was right!
I can’t find any baby pictures of her to embarrass her, but just know that when she was a baby, she looked exactly the same. Maybe now she’s a little taller, but she’s still the little baby doll I got to play with 13 years ago. When she was a baby, I used to carry her around whenever I had to go into the basement of our house so I wouldn’t get scared. She’s the only person who knows all the deep dark secrets that I had as an 8 year-old (I don’t even know what they are anymore…one of them probably involves the time my friends and I were going to pierce each others ears), but she has no idea. Plus now, she goes along with me when I want to have Jackson Pollack Day and splatter paint t-shirts in the backyard.
She is also a tremendous best friend to our brother, Charles, even when he drives her crazy.
Much to Charles’ dismay, she has also been called “the son my dad never had,” and if any girl were ever to join the high school football team, it would be her. Provided she gets a little taller first.
In short (pun maybe intended), if you like hanging out with sarcastic, TKD black-belted, ridiculously intelligent gingers, I know one whose birthday is today. But she better stop growing up so fast.
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