"Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anbody Seen My Girl)"

This song, of course, is about my sister. A fabulous song of the twenties, as well, catchy, with that 'Charleston' feel to it, but about my sister.

I've always considered myself very lucky to get along well with my family. This may be especially true for my sister, since I'm fifteen years older than her, literally old enough to be her mother, though I would have been a bit precocious. She's been here in Pittsburgh the last few days, spending some time with us in honor of my daughter's birthday. She's very conscientious about being a good aunt, both with my daughter, and with our nephew.

I thought my parents utterly irresponsible when I was twelve, and they announced that our Christmas present that year would be another sibling. How could they? They barely had the money to take care of us, I thought. That Christmas Eve--with my grandparents sleeping in the living room with the tree!--they brought home my youngest brother. I was still the only girl in the family. But three years later, when my mother was pregnant again, I knew from the start that my luck had run out. I was not happy that my sister was born, and unfortunately, I told her this somewhat early on. But it really was only that first year that I resented her.

My sister was an amazingly beautiful child. A friend told me that she would grow up to be quite a looker, and I knew he spoke the truth. She's not only adorable, but generous and loving, and somehow really ok, despite being somewhat ignored and overlooked in those early years as the youngest child in a large-ish family. I still cringe at some of the stories she tells.

Now she's my window into another generation entirely. Though I have given up on ever really being 'cool' again, I still count on her to give me some flavor of what's happening with the up and coming young adults. Oh, that sounds so condescending: I don't mean it that way at all. But in stark contrast with who I am these days: mom, and not much more--she very much has her life ahead of her. I encourage her to travel, to explore, to have adventures. It isn't that I didn't have adventures myself, but I didn't have nearly enough, and life now is filled with very different opportunities.

I am very blessed with my sister, and grateful for her. She's also promised to whack me upside the head if I start to really get annoyingly on the road to senility, and to take me out and shoot me when she catches me leaning on my shopping cart throughout the grocery store trip. What are sisters for, if not that.