Birthday Wishes for My Sister

Here's me at 19 and Paige at 6 with Elizabeth and our cousins

With the madness that's gone on around here this week, I let an important day get by me without comment. My tiny baby sister turned 19 on Monday. I'm not really sure how that's possible, because if she's 19, I'm far older than I care to acknowledge. She was born when I was in the 8th grade, and I vividly remember coming home from school to find a note on the door telling me to go next door to the neighbor's house because mom was at the hospital. I don't know how nearly two decades have come and gone since then, but apparently they have, because now she's 19 and a freshman in college. So here's what I wish for her this year, and the next few years to come.

I hope that she will make friends that will last a lifetime. The kind of friends that, 15 years later and miles apart, will still be her best friends. The ones that know her better than anyone and will always be there to laugh and cry with her.

I hope that she will fall deeply and truly in love for the first time. Even if she discovers, like I did, that your first love isn't necessarily meant to be your forever love.

I hope that she gets everything she wants. But if she does and then realizes it's not actually what she wants after all, I hope she'll fearlessly go down new paths, following new dreams.

I hope that there will be few struggles along the way. But when she does struggle, I hope that she'll come out of it stronger and wiser and even more confident in who she is and what she believes.

I hope that she will challenge herself to get out there and do new things- even things that scare her a little bit.

I hope that she will get in trouble from time to time. But not too much trouble!! Not anything that will leave her scarred for life or with an arrest record, just enough that she'll have some great stories to tell.

And finally, I hope that she will be happy and blessed. I hope that she will wake up some days bubbling over with joy at the sheer wonderfulness of her life.

So, happy belated birthday to my baby sister- may you get everything you wish for!!!