Here's to Sarah

So my sister Sarah is getting married this weekend so I am off to Ohio in a couple of days for a much needed 10 day R&R in the motherland. I am super happy for Sarah, as her husband to be seems to be the perfect fit for her. Sarah was the sister closest in age to me (1.5 years older) and I can honestly say that she is definitely interwoven into the person I have become today.

We grew up in a rural farming community, and my parents farm house sat about a mile back from any road surrounded by corn fields and forests full of exploration fun. Sarah and I used to build forts made out of brier bushes and refrigerator boxes in the fields in which we would create little worlds usually consisting of "No Bossy Becca Allowed" clubs. Becca was my older sister ( 4 years older than me) who also had the elder sister bossiness trait. I remember the weekend that Sarah and I spent laboriously making a hiking trail in the woods by cutting through the underbrush with tree trimmers, only to have all the brier patches grow back by the next weekend. I remember the day we found and explored the unknown junk yard found deep deep in the woods and set up a little house with all the stuff we found and dragged out of it. I will never forget the day that we are convinced we found a dead dog corpse chained up to a pipe in the forbidden barn...course we didn't stick around to find out.

I spent almost every day all summer long outside exploring, and I have no doubt that this is part of why I feel such a drive towards getting outside still in my life.

As we got older, Sarah and I remained friends, even when she was sometimes too cool to hang out with her younger sister. We shared rooms as teens, and got into trouble together when she let me drive her car before I had my permit and I put it in the ditch. Sarah and I were on the track team together where I was supposed to hand off to her but we always seemed to screw it up. I remember when we had our first sip of beer together (shh) and snuck into our first OSU bar while visiting Becca. Finally, when we both ended up at Ohio State, we both learned to love the Buckeyes and hate Michigan together, culimating in a year when we lived together right before I left for Arizona.

Sarah is now an amazingly smart, centered, spiritual, and happy example of how to live your life in the correct way. I still learn from her. So here is to Sarah, wishing you the best possible life ahead of you. You have been a part of most of my life and I am so happy to be a part of you future life with Mike.

Also, I love my other two sister as well just so they don't feel bad even though this narrative isn't directed at them. PS: Becca is still bossy.

And because I am truly a giver, I now give you a piece of life in the early 90s on the farm. Enjoy.