My Sister

I've read that the greatest gift a parent can give their child is a sibling. Having my sister here for the summer, I couldn't agree more. It's not just that she plays endless hours of basketball with Blaise or takes him for walks in the smoking hot Oklahoma heat. It's not that she helps me clean the kitchen floor at 10 o'clock at night or pats Zélie's butt for hours on end.  It's not even that she takes Blaise Michael in the other room to play when she sees that I've had all I can take of my toddler at the moment. It's because she really is a friend for life.

It's been five years since Amy and I have lived together, and while that seems like a long time, whenever we are together it feels like no time has passed at all. We easily fall into the same routine - talking, laughing, and teasing each other. I missed being around my sister, and I so enjoyed watching her be an aunt. It really was too much fun having her here.

I'm not the only one who had too much fun with her. Blaise adores his Aunt Amy. They are buds, to say the least. He hated that he couldn't go into her room with her (her room was the office, too, so there was too much stuff to touch!), but he waited not-so-patiently outside her door. Often I'd see him laying on the floor, peering underneath the crack in the door, anxious for Amy to come and play. They played everything together: the piano, Legos, chase, jumping on Mom's bed...but I think their favorite place to be was outside together. Blaise loved playing in the water, Amy loved working on her tan, and I loved having some quiet time. It was a win-win-win situation for everyone.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that there weren't words to describe how thankful I was that Amy was here. Well, I found them or at least a meager attempt. They came to me a few days after Amy told me something at lunch. "I'm not selfless enough to be a mom," she said as she watched me let my son eat off my fork. Yes, being a mother requires much selflessness (not that it comes to me easily! Most of the time I'm forced into it...), but, Amy Jo, you too are selfless.

She's a young college student who could've done a thousand other things with her summer, yet she chose to live with her pregnant sister, brother-in-law, and their CRAZY son. She chose to take a part-time job to be available to help when Zélie was born instead of living at home in Valentine where she could've easily made 4 times as much money per week. She never took a nap before helping Blaise go down for his. She changed poopy toddler diapers (something she swore she wouldn't do). She did supper dishes every single night. She was there to help without being asked. She was selfless.

So thank you, Amy. Thank you for sharing your summer with us. Thank you for being selfless. Thank you for being my little sister and a fantastic aunt. We love you!