Getting a letter from Holly is (almost) always a joyous occasion. She is away from home right now, and, without going into great detail, she made some choices that have had some rough consequences. Fortunately, she is learning and growing A LOT. This letter is the happiest she has seemed in a long time and that made me very happy :)
Holly entered the world 7 years after I did. At that point in my life, I was very comfortable being the baby of the family. Needless to say, the Christmas morning that she was born was not my favorite (at the time). I very distinctly remember talking to my mom on the phone, Christmas afternoon, and saying 'You were supposed to have a boy.' (If she had had a boy, then DARIUS would have been the one to share a room with him, but since she had a girl, then the duty of sharing a room, with the usurper of my position, fell upon ME.) Anyways, over time I grew to like her, off and on. By the time I was 16, I began to see the benefit of having not just a big sister, but also a little one (I don't use the term 'little' literally. I am the shortest person in my family...) While I have learned a lot from my older sister, which is a story for another time, here are some of the things I've learned from my younger one:
1. Squirrels do eat people. At least they look like they will.
2. It is possible for 2 people, around the ages of about 10ish and 3ish, to form 'The Lion King Club' (a club devoted to the movie of the same name) thinking that the other person loves the movie when in reality both of them hate it so why form a dumb club devoted to it anyways?
3. You can spend an hour telling a story that took 10 minutes to hear, while the rest of your family eats dinner and watches you act it out (song and dance included), sentence by sentence. Meanwhile, your dinner is pretty much stone cold.
4. Mad-Libs are just 10 times more fun with her.
5. Be yourself, and stop worrying about what the world thinks of you.
6. Probably my favorite thing that I learned from Holly, is how to be charitable. She probably doesn't realize this. I mentioned earlier in the post that I was none to pleased when she was born. When she was little, we would play together here and there, but I spent more time than I care to admit not being nice to her (Isn't it terrible that when she was a little baby I would squeeze her foot until she would wake up and cry??? You will never look at me the same way again, will you?). Do you know what she would do despite the way I treated her? Sometimes she would go to the store, just her and my parents. If she was good, then she got a treat. Every time she got one, she would ask to get two so that I could have one as well. I will stop speaking of this now before I start crying.
I'm glad we grow up. I'm glad we change. I'm glad I learned the value of my little sister. And I'm especially glad that she was a wiser little girl than me. As I was thinking about her earlier, and how sweet she is, one of my favorite scriptures popped into my head.
And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Moroni 7:45
This is Holly and me team lifting mom's Christmas tree, as indicated by the picture on the side of the box.
And this is her just being beautiful.
