My "sister"....

OK, so really, I have just one sibling.....a brother. I love my brother. He's become one of my closest friends over the years and he and I can laugh and share personal jokes that no one else would ever find quite as funny. But through the miracle of marriage (miracle?), I've gained something (or someone) that I've always wanted. A sister. Actually, two sisters. I just spent a little over a week with my sister-in-law Annie, so I thought I'd share a little about her. I will be seeing my sister-in-law Kristin next weekend and she'll be my next victim...er subject.

Eleven plus years ago, Bill and I got married and one person who was missing from our wedding was Bill's brother Keith. My brother-in-law Keith was part of a relay team for Calvin College and his relay team couldn't do without him that particular weekend. I had mixed feelings about this situation at the time. I have particularly strong feelings about running. (For more information check out my facebook status a few days ago). Well, that day, Keith went to that track meet and he met the woman who would become my very first sister, Annie. For that reason alone, him missing my wedding was completely worth it. I was no longer the only girl (besides my mother-in-law) in the all-boys club of the Van Goor household.

Annie and I have been mistaken as actual sisters. She's about the same height as I am, has curly hair, and well, we kind of look alike! We share a love of the Lord, family, outdoors, books, blogs, cooking and fitness to name a few. We have similar ideas about raising our children and what is important as a mom.

We also have a bunch of differences. Annie is more soft-spoken than I (not too hard to do, I know). She is a far more patient woman than I am. She separates her laundry (that one's for you Bill!). She is more adventurous in life than I am. Oh and here's a big one...she's one of the fastest women in the nation and loves to run!

I've learned so much about being a good Christian and a good mother from her. She sets the bar higher for me and is an example of who I'd like to emulate. Did I mention that she also made me an Aunt?! I was over the moon when I became an aunt and it takes every ounce of control not to totally freak out my niece and nephew who only see me once or twice a year and smother them with hugs and kisses.

Every time it's time for us to say, "Goodbye," I admit that I get choked up. She's become such a big part of my heart and I can't believe how blessed I am to have her in my life. I'm counting down the days till our trip out to Ohio in November so that I can spend time giggling with her, and connecting over things that are unique to us. I also look forward to the lessons that she teaches me and marvel over how much of a sister this girl, who I've only known for 10 years has become to me.

Summertime...time...time....

August is upon me and I find myself sitting on my porch, listening to a little Janis, sipping some red wine and watching the rain. What better time than this to reflect, er blog?

I can still smell the coco nutty Hawaiian Tropics oil (thank you Hawaiian Tropics, btw for the annual trip to the dermatologist) slathered on me and putting Sun-in in my hair while the Eagle's, "Take it Easy" played on the radio. We had a postage stamp of a property but it had a big ol' swimming pool with a big ol' cherry tree growing next to it. I'd swim in that pool all day and though I never did master climbing that cherry tree, I'd eat those cherries every chance I got. I loved summertime. Bike rides to the park, running to the ice cream truck (red, white and blue snow cones for me), catching lightening bugs (for some reason they weren't fire flies), charcoal BBQ's (what's propane?)that burnt my hot dogs just right, wearing wooden clogs and terry-cloth shorts jumpsuits with the white piping on the sides. Summertime meant staying out past dark. It meant swimming till all I could smell was chlorine and my fingers were pruney. It meant beach towel/lawn chair tents. It meant wrapping myself in a towel and playing Pac Man on grandma's shag rug. It meant talking into the fan to hear my voice transformed...Trips "down the shore"....floating around on a raft endlessly.....I can remember the family BBQ's and suppers from Rick's Fish. There was always lots of food and lots of laughs. Days riding my banana-seat bike over heat-wavy pavement and cooler evening games of kickball in the street. Dancing around my grandparent's kitchen table with the rest of my crazy family to Eddy Grant's, "Electric Avenue." Sleepovers at Star's and our Cabbage Patch kids....Mr. Sirotnik lining that big hole in his backyard with plastic and filling it with water and swimming in it even though we had a pool next door! Scratching mosquito bites and putting x's in them with my nails so they'd stop itching.

August dragged on so hot and so long back then. Now, it seems to just fly past in a blink of an eye. I find myself consciously creating "memories" for my kids, hoping that one day they will look back just as fondly as I do, on their endless summers. I had the unique situation where my school was literally just beyond the fence in my backyard and inevitably, at some point, every August, I'd be floating around on that inner tube and a breeze would shift the leaves in such a way that I could feel fall creeping in. I could hear the voices of the ghosts in the empty high school hallways and knew that summer was slipping away. Then Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" would come on and I'd close my eyes and push those thoughts away and just drift around carelessly, never knowing just how fleeting that time would be.