Packing Night

We're all in the living room. My sister has a huge blue suitcase in the middle of the room, her clothes scattered on various couches and chairs. She leaves tomorrow for her first trip to Europe. And we're all so excited for her. From our enthusiasm, you would think we were all travelling together. The five of us - my mom, sister, and two friends - are lounging on the empty chairs and couches. Her plan is to stay up all night, so that she can sleep on the long flight. Our plan is to stay up with her until we drop off to sleep. So far, she has outfits planned for two of the five weeks.

Outside, the streetlamp struggles to stay awake. It flickers on, off, on, off. Pause. Then back on again.

Our spontaneous laughter fills the room. We have music playing in the background, along with the quiet sounds of my brother (or is that dad?) snoring in the other room.

Two hours later, we've moved from sitting upright to leaning on each other, now we're all rather squished together on the long, blue couch, lying down and hearing the sounds of each other's breaths. The music takes up more and more space. The suitcase is half-full, and all the clothes is now organized into neat piles. It's hard to believe she's actually leaving to travel in Europe, just like we dreamed about when we were little. We're so, so happy for her and just as happy to share these times of packing and planning. I love sister-nights like this.

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For her birthday

Daddy asked us to make Mom a delicious dinner as her gift. So, at 3:30 pm, my sisters and I sent her off shopping for a couple hours and began planning the menu.

All three of us love to cook, but this was our first attempt at combining forces and making a gourmet meal. The oven stayed on throughout the whole evening, hovering between 275 and 400 degrees. We used almost every pot, pan, and skillet in the house. And lots and lots and lots of butter.

After three and a half hours in the kitchen, we served the meal: Sweet Pea Crostini, Tuscan Stuffed Mushrooms, Sherry-based Cream Crab Dip, Scalloped Sun-Dried Tomato Rigatoni, Marsala Spicy Shrimp, Lemon Butter Asparagus, and Garlic Butter Lobster Tail.

It was a culinary triumph.

All of us kids dressed up, set candles on the table, and had Mom close her eyes until she sat down. She laughed and screamed and smiled when she opened her eyes. It was perfect. As she tried each new appetizer and dish, she would stop, close her eyes, and chew in silence for a few seconds. Those few seconds of contented silence made us all ridiculously happy.

We watched a movie later on, and when it finished, we just stayed together in the backroom. I fell asleep listening to Mom help my sister plan her upcoming summer trip to Europe. Mom would reminisce about her college trips to Europe and the many adventures she had, then give a piece of advice, then tell Jazz yet another wonderful story. The best way to end the evening.

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Portraits, I

There's a simple beauty to her.

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My Beautiful Sister

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Wednesday

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away...

We didn't fly, but we did next best thing - we rode our bikes. It was a beautiful day, just a little above 70 degrees, clear blue skies, with a breeze that made our hair fly around our faces. We went all over town. Down to Barnes and Noble, to the library, Starbucks, and then home again. I sang Sinatra out loud. It was a perfect day.

The Starbucks barista smiled and asked us, "Are you twins?"

Holding our Izze drinks, we looked at each other.
"Um. No. Three and a half years apart."

"How old are you?"


We turned the question back on her, "How old do you think we are?"

"You look like twelve year-old twins!"

We couldn't help collapsing in laughter. We told her our ages - seventeen and fourteen. We kept on laughing as we purchased our drinks and walked into B&N. I'm not sure if she believed us.

On our way out, Jacqueline nudged me, "At least I'm only two years off..."

Weather-wise it was such a lovely day
Come fly with me, we'll fly, we'll fly away.

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Finding Joy

I had a pile of homework. Math homework. No more literature classes, no more language classes, no science, just math. And lots of it. Smiles weren't all that abundant, and I sat on my bed rather drearily marking numbers.

Giggles and smiles entered the room, in the form of my two younger sisters. They talked so fast I could hardly understand them. Jasmine had earned four free tickets to American Idol for today, a live showing, and they were both super-excited. I smiled. I was happy for them. I helped them safety pin their pants, sweaters, dresses. We were all smiling now. I took a picture of them, with their sign (no idea how they plan to get that past security). Then, they left. The house was oddly quiet.

I sat down on my bed again, looked at the stack of homework. And I was happy. Not for my math, that's for sure, but for my sisters. Their joy had seeped in and overwhelmed my (silly) moodiness.

Sometimes, many times, we can find our joy simply by looking at the joys of others. It's so infectious, even if we don't realize it. God's blessings are simply so abundant, even when we think we're in a bad spot, just look around, and we'll see sunshine and smiles. We can find our joy in the joy of others. :)

Younger Sisters and their sign

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