For Cee-Bird

(So, her birthday isn't until Saturday, the 5th, but we'll be at the lake so I wanted to make sure I got this taken care of. This is a big birthday year for both of my siblings!)

Happy Eighteenth to my (not-so) little sister!

I can't believe she's an adult now, at least according to the people who regulate films and also the U.S. Constitution. It seems it can hardly be possible. Especially when I look at pictures like this:


I remember sitting on that same porch/deck/paved area of our house in Cumberland, Maryland pouting on the day everyone came to celebrate her first birthday. That first year wasn't easy. Though I loved having a baby sister, it meant my reign of six years as an only child was over and that was a hard adjustment. But as time drew on, I came to love and adore my fiery little sister, the princess, or "ornery" as she was sometimes called. (And who is still as fiery as ever.)

We are so very different in a million ways and yet sometimes I find myself taken aback by the similarities we share. And I am grateful for both our differences and our commonalities. It makes us who we are.

And now she's not a little girl or just a teenager. She's eighteen. And those early-nineties puffballs in the snow are all grown up and either dipping their toes into (in the case of Cearra) or barely up to their knees (in my case, having only recently turned twenty-four) in the sea of adulthood. And more than ever now, they are friends.


And for that I am incredibly grateful.

My Sister, The Graduate

Well, we're back!

Bet you didn't even know we were gone. Well, maybe some of you.

This weekend we took a short trip home to Virginia Beach to visit and to see my little (but not so little any more) sister Cearra graduate from high school. The weekend started off with a three hour delay at the Nashville airport (something to do with an "air traffic jam"), but you wouldn't have known it from our spirits. We were just glad to be on our way to somewhere, having the travel bug and all. Cliff and I enjoyed a long meal and good conversation at the O'Charleys in the food court and read. A lot.

All said and done, we made it to the 757 and spent the weekend in great company. This was Cliff's first time being there in any other month besides January, so we knew a visit to the beach had to be in order. Saturday it was packed and the weather was a bit abnormal, but we enjoyed a couple of haze free hours reading, playing in the chilly water, people-watching, picnicing, and browsing through the Boardwalk Art Festival.


Saturday evening was dinner at Bravo! with all of the family and Cearra's boyfriend Curt and then her graduation. It was quick, painless, and such a joy to see HOW HAPPY she was at being through!

It's amazing to think about what has happened in the last six years since I graduated from high school. Here I was, back at the same place, completely remodeled - both me and the Convention Center. So much in my life has changed. And yet so much remains constant. Looking at these pictures, I know that much is true...




I can only hope Cearra experiences as much joy, challenge, and opportunity as I feel like I have been blessed with since graduating in 2002. It's hard to believe both Cliff and I are four years away from our ten year reunions.

Where does time go?