Today is my sister's birthday... the big Six-Oh. It's one of those unfortunate milestone birthdays we all suffer through. Janet has been dreading this birthday for months, which is so unlike her. She has always been the happy one in my family, quick with a joke or a humorous story.
She was the cute sister - the one picked to be the flower girl,
the high school cheerleader,
and the sister with unbelievable luck in Las Vegas.
She raised 2 kids as a single mom
and is now the grandmother to Baby Violet.
I've always admired Janet's quick wit and ability to think on her feet, like the time she went to a job interview, looked the interviewer straight in the eye, said she was an expert in computers, and then stopped off at Barnes & Noble on the way home to buy a book on
Excel for Dummies. But that same quick (albeit mischievous) spirit often left me quaking in my boots when my mom would grill me on her latest escapades, like the Christmas break she waited for the mailman to deliver our college report cards, slipped hers out of the pack, took it up the street, and dropped it back into the mailbox knowing it wouldn't be delivered again until we were back at school.
In recent years, Janet has become the matriarch of our family, mostly I suspect because she's the only one who can cook a Thanksgiving turkey or get the whole crowd into dinner at Harrah's.
I can't believe I'm old enough to have a sister who is 60. Boy does time fly.
