K.E.D.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite (and only) sister. Between July 28th and August 28th each year she is two years older than me instead of one, and I gloat every year during this time :). Here is to two girls, only 13 months apart, who were the worst of enemies and became the best of friends.

I don't want to give away her age, but here are 33 memories of the girl I love to call Toons (in no particular order)....

1. The infamous biting (just the beginning of some serious sibling rivalry)

2. Our little kitchen set, and the pee in the pitcher incident

3.The bookcase/collarbone fiasco... QUIET, I'm on the phone!

4. Summers at Grandma's- swimming at the Police Academy pool, shopping at Pic N' Save, going to the Pledgers' house (yuck), cute Jimmy at church that we both had a crush on, and getting left in that restaurant when I wouldn't eat all my fruit with a fork

5. You getting tied to the dresser during our sleepover at the Hinich's house in Pacific Palisades

6. Going to school early on Thurs and Fri during your sixth grade and my fifth grade year to sing in Scera Park Singers (and those awful turquoise dresses)

7. Dad taking us to school in the tool truck

8. Your bloody incident at the Alpine Slides, because you were just barely tall enough to ride alone so you did!

9. I won't mention any names.... but one special babysitter we had that locked you in the closet a few times and promised to take us to McDonald's if we didn't tell Mom. The crazy part is that we didn't tell, until she failed to come through with the McD's!

10. Summer movies at the Scera theater, when we'd get the tickets for a show once a week that included candy and a drink and Mom would drop us off

11. My new ten speed, courtesy of your lousy grades. Sorry Dad!

12. Oh the fights we had! I fought with words (let's face it I knew how to push your buttons and you were an easy target), and you would beat the crap out of me... scratching, hitting, and kicking. Remember the time I broke your wrist with the phone and no one believed you for a couple weeks?? SORRY.

13. The Christmas of the chickenpox

14. Summers in Scottsdale, lounging at the pool

15. Mike Taylor saying the entire pledge of allegiance to us, while I literally peed my pants on his porch, when we asked him if he would like to 'pledge us for our walk-a-thon.'

16. Those boat shoes- 'nuff said

17. Road trip with the three of us in the back of the truck with the rug kit all the way to Canada for Expo '86, and making the 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love?' commercial

18. How freaking early you would get up to take a bath and hog the bathroom, getting ready for school- I think you mostly spent time on your hair and bangs to heaven. And you still almost missed the bus all the time- I can see you running toward the already moving bus with your big ESPRIT bag. Man, I loved those bags.

19. Hanging out with Brian and Danny together, and the time you broke up with Brian and then he was stuck at the house with you, because I had taken his red camaro for a few spins around the block

20. Me, you and Emily in drivers' ed together. Me getting my license before you and taking you places, and then the two of us sharing the Fairmont- 'It's a cute little car.'

21. You and Mom doing math at the kitchen table together, I don't know who was more frustrated

22. You running away, and the note you left :(

23. Going to Girls Camp at Mia Shalom, and the tear-fest testimony meeting

24. Sharing a room our entire lives, and having bunk beds until graduation!

25. Being the only member of the family who was present at Wedding #1 while you were all two hours late because the basement had flooded. Argh.

26. You, me and Mat throwing auctions for someone or other, pretending we didn't know each other, and getting paid cash under the table (should I have written that one??) CRAZY

27. Waiting outside the room when Kortney and Gracie were born

28. Lots of babysitting Kort for you when you were single. Oh, that night I took Kort to give you a break, and ended waking mom up at 5am crying myself, the house in shambles, because the kid just wouldn't sleep

29. Taking out our endowments together

30. Each of us being the other's Maid of Honor

31. Countless late late nights in your kitchen in Mapleton coloring my hair, re-coloring my hair, laughing our arses off and eating treats (and then me leaving with a beanie on my head due to a little color we like to call Orange). Tony was always dazed and confused

32. The drive home this past April- the babies getting the flu, getting separated in Vegas with no phone and arriving at 5am...crazy train alert!

33. The way you cried when you saw me and Addi at Famous Dave's :)