Today my baby sister turns 20 years old. I remember waiting for months, watching my mom's belly grow and wishing as hard as I could that I would get a sister. I remember how my mother went into labor right in the middle of cooking dinner on a September evening in 1984. I remember how fun it was to have a real baby to play with instead of a doll. I could tell you plenty of stories about her formative years, but this is not going to be a Sunrise, Sunset kind of entry. I'll just say that it's strange watching someone grow up when you can remember a time that they didn't even exist yet. And now she's turning 20. My goodness, how time flies.

When I turned 20 my boyfriend at the time, who fancied himself a creative guy, composed a little poem for me that went something like this: "you've waited so long and now it's here, but the wait's not over, you have one more year." Because of course, all of my friends were already 21 and they would all, including the boyfriend, leave me sitting home on Friday nights so they could go to the bar.

Tonight we are taking my sister out for dinner but tonight is also the night my book club is supposed to meet. I have to be honest in saying it was a real toss up what to do because I couldn't choose both. Reluctantly I decided on my sister's birthday dinner.

I emailed one of the book club ladies telling her why I couldn't make it. She wrote back reminding me that we had decided to meet the second Thursday evening in September because so many people were going away for Labor Day. What a relief! If I had chosen book club over my sister and passed up dinner, I would've been sitting in the bookstore by myself wondering where everyone was. I guess doing the right thing really does pay off! Happy birthday to my sister (and this is where I would link to her if she had a blog of her own).
  ¶ 4:23 PM