9/11/56

Her name in Greek means "light" - and she is

As far as birth order goes, I’m in the best possible position. Both of my brothers are older, and I’m the middle girl, which means I have the luxury of being little sister to one and big sister to the other. If I was Borg, my name would be “4 of 5”. 

In 2001, September 11 became an anniversary for all the wrong reasons. For me, it’s always been and always will be my big sister’s birthday. This is a happy thing because I love her and have always looked to her as an example of where I hope to be in another five years. 

Naturally, because she and I are unique individuals following different maps, it can only be a rough gauge, so rather than measuring on a material scale, I consider what a truly lovely person she is. It’s impossible to dislike my older sister unless you’re competing with her, in which case the problem is yours and not hers. I know; as a teenager, I was in hopeless competition, half a decade behind with no chance of drawing alongside, let alone surpassing, her. It was only that she was fabulous and I wanted to be as fabulous. 

She is now as she was then: beautiful, kind, generous, affectionate, caring, funny, ethical, honourable, maybe a little sneaky though I`ve never seen it, and best of all, she loves her little sisters. Lucky for her – she has two. Lucky for us – we have her. I love her so much that I wonʼt care if my wee sis says sheʼs the best big sis in the world, because itʼs true. It was true when we were kids and itʼs true now that weʼre grown. 

So happy 57^th birthday to Dadʼs Darling Daughter (why did she ever leave him?) Sheʼs still cool, still classy, still worth looking up to – and not just because sheʼs four inches taller than me.