Twenty-one years...Strong

Twenty-one years ago today, she was born. It was a day very much like today, dreary and cold. It was a day you wouldn't ordinarily remember...But that day...that day was a day I would remember forever.

I can still hear my mom saying "Tom, my water just broke." And my grandma picking me up for school. I can remember when the office assistant came to my third grade class as we lined up for recess and told me my mom had given birth to a girl. A sister. I had waited eight years for a sister. I announced to the class "I have a new baby girl sister." I have never forgotten that moment.

Twenty-one years ago.

I loved her immediately. When she was very young I would dress her up like a Barbie and do her hair and make-up. When she was older I was mean to her. When she was a teenager I tried to mother her. When she became an adult I called her friend.

Although you can't mistake us for being sisters, this sister of mine is everything I am not. She speaks her mind where I would avoid. She is faithful where I doubt. She believes where I question. She is sick where I am healthy. She is stronger than I have ever been. Born with a laundry list of congenital heart defects, she survived more by the age of five than most will sustain in a lifetime. She continues to survive. She continues to live joyfully, faithfully, and gracefully.

Each year that has passed we have rejoiced for our miracle girl. Our daughter, our sister, our wife, our friend. Each year we say a prayer - a prayer of thanks, a prayer of hope, a prayer for another miracle, a prayer for all that will be. Each year we thank God for giving her to us.

Twenty-one years.

I have a baby girl sister. She's all grown up. She is amazing and wonderful and everything I hope to one day be. She is a devoted Christian whose faith flows like a river. I can't imagine what the last twenty-one years would have been like without her.

She fills my heart with life, laughter and love...

Love above all.