Sisters

My sisters are redheads. And they (well, at least two of them) have the personalities to match. I took Annabelle in for her 4 month (!) check-up yesterday, and had a bunch of questions for the doctor because she is so different from Mabes. The doctor assured me that everything is fine, kids can just have very different personalities.

And then I thought back to Sarah. Her personality is very different from mine. Sure, we have a lot in common: our love of food, TV, sarcasm, silly games, and so much more. But she is just...more. For example, if something good happens to me, I'm happy about it. If something good happens to Sarah, she's ecstatic. She claps. Her eyebrows go up as her smile grows. She yells. She may jump up and down. She may even hug the salesperson at Emporium because she likes her new shoes so much.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the personality differences, though, she's one of my best friends. At the heart of our relationship is an understanding--I love her something fierce and I know she feels the same way. She's always there for me. As I've said before, she will celebrate my joys with more enthusiasm and lament my trials with more sorrow than I do. Perhaps that is why it's so easy to be truly happy (and only a little jealous) that she's wearing size 4 pants. If one of us does something to irritate the other, we know it's not intentional, we give each other space, and things are fine. Of course, there was that time when I got mad and yelled "shut up!" while shoving her off the sidewalk outside of Old Navy. And then we collapsed in laughter.

So despite Mabes' and Annabelle's personality and age differences, I look at them and hope they have the kind of relationship Sarah and I do. I hope they play silly games and have inside jokes. I hope their kids love each other and can't wait to visit. I hope that when one of them is having a bad day, they can call the other and talk about TV and food and shopping and somehow feel better.

Happy belated birthday, Sarah. I just wish I knew what happened to that turtle beanie baby so I could send it to Joel and have him hide it in your bed.

Edited to add: In rereading this, I realize the personality contrast makes me sound like quite the wet blanket. Comparatively, that could be true.