There are several different types of sisters.

Some sisters meet once a week for coffee. Some sisters go shopping together.  Some sisters talk daily.  Some sisters are so alike in behavior, mannerisms, and interests it is hard to tell them apart.

That is not my sister and me.  As sisters who were close in age, yet miles apart in personality, we have fought with the best of them.

We are cut from two different cloths, and at times have questioned how we are even related.

In our youth, I rode and showed horses, I can’t even remember her being in the barn.

I buy shoes at every opportunity, she would never put another pair on if society did not demand it.

I am slightly vain about my hair, she will most likely end up with dreads or just shave it off one of these days.

We are more of the “don’t talk for a few weeks, then text in the middle of the night” type of sisters.

Our relationship is our very own, and though it may not seem like it from the outside, it is actually a pretty great one.

I have spent periods of time loving her, disliking her, being jealous of her, following her lead, and pushing back against anything she may like. When we were little we were night and day, at times, and the best of friends at times.

We had two of every toy, every doll.

She is the reason I was always Luigi, and the reason I actually had a Grubby to go with her Teddy Ruxbin.

We have fought some of the best fights ever.

We have not spoken for extended periods of time.

All of my childhood memories are wrapped up in her. From Barbies to Cabbage patch kids to GI Joe’s, all in her.

Now we sit across the room at family gatherings and text each other.

She is my sister.

I have followed her example and steps my entire life. School, activities, friends, marriage, kids, divorce, recovery, remarriage.  All of it, with her right ahead of me, showing me the way.

I cannot imagine life without her.

She is my biggest supporter, even when she thinks that what I am doing makes no sense.

I love her like no other.

She is two years, and four days older than me, and that means that for three days every year, she is VERY old.

Happy Birthday to my sister, one of a kind, a true original, who I will most likely continue to follow into old age.