Thankful

I always have a lot to be thankful for. But this Thanksgiving, I'm especially thankful for Baby Sarah.

She's my littlest sister, and it's her birthday on Thanksgiving this year. I'm 15 years older than she is. She wasn't even two when I left to start my freshman year of college, so we've never got to spend much of our lives together. But I'm proud of that little girl, and I love her so much.

The family says she's the second version of me. She's a mini-fashionista and has opinions about everything; whether understands the topic of the conversation or not, she has something to say about it. She bosses children bigger than she is around, and organizes them into doing what she wants them to do. She's in 2nd grade and she's already coming up with grand schemes of how to convince Mom to not make her do all of her homework. She tells Angel on Skype when she thinks her candy supply is getting low that he ought to do something about replenishing it.

 She has 6 older siblings. A little baby-torture is part of her life. I had to include this picture because it makes me laugh so much. Someone apparently stuck her body in between the bed and the wall and I guess she was just hanging out there.

 

Our family used to sit around in the living room, watching Sarah instead of the television, letting her monologues and other antics entertain us better than any comedy show. She recently had one of the best dreams that a kids could have, and in the morning, she told my parents all about it: "I dreamed that I was a sheriff, so I arrested Daddy and put him in jail." She seemed especially thrilled about that.

I love that blue-eyed little girl, and I'm thankful for the little lady she's growing up to be, but I hope she doesn't grow up to be too much older before I get to see her again. Because I still remember her like this:

Happy birthday, Sarah!