When I was really young, and I tried to say the name of my sister/best friend, Elizabeth, it would come out as Sissy, and for years it just became an endearing nickname, and I would always call her that.
We’ve been mistaken as twins, mistaken for the other one and sometimes we’ve played tricks on people by pretending to not be related.
I’ve seen her grow up. I saw her tom-boy phase (well this one we lived it together), her weird stay up all night-kind of rebelious-energy drinking phase in high school, and the time she was putting on all this really cool hockey equipment when we were little, and so of course I had to play hockey like my sissy. She is sweet and a little bit wild, like the best people are.
She’s the heart of my heart. I can still remember how deeply I would feel for her while we were growing up. When she was happy, I was too. When something hurt her, oh how deeply it hurt me.
She’s been my pal, my best friend for as long as I could remember. And this Wednesday, she leaves for a trip to Uganda, Thailand and India to be the vessel of God that sets captives free and brings redemption and hope. She will be gone for six months.
I come home in two months and two weeks, and I’d be lying if I said that it’s not hard to imagine coming home and not having my sister to greet me at the airport with flowers, and balloons (take note fam 😉 or to have her arms wrapped around my neck. She’s the one person who would understand anything about these past 11 months, because she’s the only one that’s also done it.
It will have been 2 years and 3ish months, and the two of us have only seen each other for 2 weeks.
If you had told me in high school that the two of us would find ourselves being missionaries in our early 20s, traveling the world, somehow working for the same mission organization but finding ourselves consistently in different places around the world, I would have thought you were crazy. But I hope I would have had the wisdom to see how beautiful it is.
It’s a perfect picture of the Lord’s goodness and His hand in the life of my family.
“My sister, over the years, has grown into my closest friend, the friend who tells me the most searing truth, and gives me a soft place to rest and be. Families can go either way, and I can not take credit for how mine has gone. I accept it like a gift or a winning lottery ticket, and I hold that ticket in my hand tightly, and I take every opportunity to be with her, for an afternoon, for a weekend, for a vacation, and each time moment feels like being given one more winning ticket.” Shauna Niequist
Even though this whole adventure thing has brought us to be on different continents, I wouldn’t trade it for anything
My Sissy, my Prof, my Lorelai, I love you and am so excited for this new adventure. Thank you for always being a good role model, thank you for loving Jesus, thank you for being obedient, thank you for staying true to who you are, thank you for letting me see how beautiful your heart is. There’s no one else I’d rather eat donuts and coffee with, and share my push-pop with.
Love, Sonny
//
Are you apart of the DAR?
No, D-A-R-N.
If eating cake is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
As a child your mother had an extremely large head.
The best thing about that was that she would tell me-constantly. My first sentence was Big Head want dolly.
Do you want to run cross-country?
Not across the whole country. Maybe just Michigan.
Real quick, jab jab.
I’m not going to punch you in the face.
It will give me a groovy scar. I always wanted a groovy scar.
Oy, with the poodles already.
It’s so satisfying to watch people exercise while you’re eating junk food.
What is a danish without coffee?
The eternal question springs up again.
Who cares if I’m pretty if I fail my finals?
Okay hang on. You’ve got this totally backwards.
//
So I’ve been digging this song by Alan Jackson lately, and whenever I listen to it, it makes me think of you
Spread your wings; don’t be afraid to try
the world can be hard
you gotta live a little before you die
open that door; step out into that bright sunshine
follow your heart, but remember anytime
you can always come home
wherever life’s road leads
you can get back to a love that’s strong and free; you’ll never be alone
In you heart there’s still a place
no matter how right or wrong you’ve gone
you can always come home
Pack your bags; smile and say goodbye
chase those dreams but when you lay down at night
you know that there’s someone praying for you every day
even if you never find you way
When I was younger, my sister said to me the very same words and I took those words with me
when I was afraid I’d pull them out and think just how much they mean to me
