The Fearsome Five

One of my favorite childhood memories is of me and my sisters sitting in Leatherby's ice cream parlor, eating ice cream and having a ball on our first ever sisters-night-out. I was about 10 years old and was (well, I guess I still am!) the 4th of 5 girls in my family. No boys, despite my years and years of begging my parents and asking Santa Claus for a baby brother. My oldest and youngest sister are just 10 years apart, so we are all fairly close in age. As a kid, though, having four sisters, one of whom is 8 years older than you, can get pretty annoying. Especially when you only have one bathroom in your house! As one of the younger ones I just had to get used to hand-me-downs, taking cold showers, sitting up to the bar when we had guests for dinner if we didn't have enough chairs for all of us to fit at the table, and spending a large part of my childhood attending my big sisters' activities and events. I didn't mind that last one though - my big sister Ashley was the coolest person I'd ever known and I couldn't get enough of watching her basketball and volleyball games and track meets. I completely idolized her, and she knew it. She could get me to do anything she wanted. For example, as an 8 year old I memorized Mark Antony's famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen.." speech in its entirety while trying to help her memorize it. I knew nearly every word of Of Mice and Men because I read her a few chapters each night before bed, during which she would inevitably fall asleep so I would have to re-read it to her the next night. And then I read her the book report she'd hand-written while she typed it up. I attended every single one of her high school athletic events and even wore t-shirts that said "#13 is my sister." Yeah, I was an awesome little sister. And she was an awesome big sister. She was everything I wanted to be. Still is, for that matter. 

And she's not my only awesome sister. My little sister Kaylee has always been one of my best friends. We are only 17 months apart so we were only one grade apart in school. We shared our little white truck in high school, shared a room, clothes and just about everything else. And even though she lives far away now, we still rarely go a day without talking. 

My big sister Carlia is the one just older than me. Like Sara and Kaylee, she was a cheerleader in high school (which was pretty polar opposite from the athletes that Ashley and I were). She was involved in choir and drama, and one of my favorite things was watching her perform in plays. Funny story - when I was an awkward pre-teen I used to part my hair right down the middle. One day Carlia told me I should move my part to the side so I didn't look so silly. So I did and I was so excited to show her! But apparently I way over-corrected because my hair looked like I had a comb over. When I showed it to Carlia, she told me I looked like an old man. Ha! I'm sure I did. Our relationship survived that blow, though ;) and I can definitely say she is an awesome sister. 

My oldest sister Sara is 8 years older than I am, so I didn't know her very well when I was little. I remember her bringing me some markers and a notepad for my fifth birthday, and I remember hearing about how she asked for a fortune cookie at a Mexican restaurant while she was on a date. Ironically, we didn't really become close until she moved out of the house. Now, though, we are great friends and there's nobody else I can tease quite like her.

We may not have all been close when we were growing up. We quarreled just like most siblings do (I mean, when you have five girls plus their parents all sharing a bathroom, there's bound to be some trouble) but we still had fun together. We sang our hearts out on road trips, played jinx nonstop and had UNO competitions late into the night. Sure, Sara tried to kill me in the car once by jamming an inch-round pencil point-first down my throat (ok just kidding Sara, I know that was an accident!) but we all really do love each other, and now we are even closer than ever. I am so blessed that I can say my sisters are my very best friends!

Why all this nostalgia, you ask? Because next week the Fearsome Five are reuniting! (I nicknamed us that, guys, hope you don't mind..Fab Five was already taken). I haven't been this excited about something for a while. Hooray for sisters!