Vida. Risa. Amor.

So I'm the oldest of 4 siblings...after me comes Jen, then Bets, then Josh.  The coolest part of being the oldest is that, besides my own parents, I've known all of them the longest of anyone in their lives.  I win.  (he-he).

So Jen has been in my life for about 33 years now.  I know I haven't always been the nicest big sister, but for some reason she has always looked up to me.  Well, maybe not always, but for as long as I've known her, she pretty much does anything I ever ask her to do...

When I had first gotten my drivers liscence, we had a long distance to drive for a family vacation, so she took the wheel for me when I put it on cruise control so I could rest...and I think she even sat in the drivers seat for me.  She would let me style her hair and wouldn't cry too hard when I burned her with a curling iron or cut her bangs too short.  When I pushed Betsy too hard on a skinny skateboard down a hill and scaped up her legs, I begged Jen to take the blame...and she did.  Once we tricked a neighbor together into thinking there was an ice-cream truck coming around with our Mom's bell and hid in our front tree to watch.  We built forts in our trees together with huge pieces of foam and jump-ropes and used Betsy to test them out.  She'd always "let" me sit in the front and ate every bite of my crunchy macaroni and cheese dinners.  She didn't get mad at me when I got us lost in search for the Chicago Beach together in my smurf truck....and she tolerated my music.

I also love that she is famous for being random and unpredictable.  When she was little, she scared all of us after we searched for hours only to find her napping by the window upstairs.  Of all of us, she's the one with the most scrapes and bumps, and at one of my Dad's softball games she cut her lip so bad she had to have stitches.  I was fascinated when she turned the mixers on her own hand once...but I cried for her when she had to have eye surgery...and we probably ran over 3 pairs of her glasses with the lawn mower. And if she's snoring, she won't care if you shake her 15 times from the bottom of the triple bunk beds to make her stop...(this is where the names Ke-we, Je-we, & Bessy were invented by the way).

She's always been there...through birthdays, school, church, sports, vacations, college, weddings, and babies.  She's quick to forgive, loves to laugh loud, is generously optimistic, and is always ready to listen.

So now that we're in our 30's, I have found that our roles have kind of taken a little switch.  Instead, I find myself looking up more and more to her.  She amazes me with her wisdom and advice and takes me as I am.  She knows me better than I know myself sometimes...even when I can't put my thoughts into words. 

She created this lovely blog for me and is the only one who knows how to change my boring songs on my playlist.  (hint, hint.) 


The other day she offered to style up my hair and jazz me up in makeup, big earrings and cowboy boots for a super fun photoshoot that, so far, has been the highlight of my month.

She's an amazing friend and photographer.  She's forever my Je-we.  Check her out at Kreatid.com