Goober Grows Up

So on Saturday a momentous occasion occurred...my parents moved in their fourth (and last) child into her very own college dorm room. That's right my friends, Rachel is in college. To those of you who know me from elementary school, you may remember her as the little half-pint in the cheerleading uniform on the sidelines. (I'll have to get a digital copy of a picture we have where she barely comes up to my knees.) From junior high, you may remember her as the little girl dressed up in a little cougar costume at the football games. And the high school friends may remember her sitting up in the stands and following along.

In any event, if you're a friend of mine and you knew my sister at all, you may now join me in feeling old.
But this post is not about me, it's about her. My sister was my Baby Alive baby doll growing up. She was born when I was in the 3rd grade, and I pretty much thought I could take care of her myself. As we grew, I did take care of her quite a bit. And after a while, I'll admit, being a full-time babysitter on the weekends wasn't my favorite. But, I know that my sister helped form me into the person I am today. She was a little human being who looked up to me and I took that seriously (most of the time). I wasn't always nice...ok, I usually wasn't very nice. I grew up with two brothers in the house, so I felt it was my responsibility to make her tough like they made me tough. It was a strange realization to learn that she was much more sensitive than I was. She was sweet and tenderhearted. She took our "loving" insults more personally than any of us ever intended. And I often think that I should have done things different. But despite my best efforts, somehow she has turned out to be a great person.

Rachel graduated as valedictorian of her class last May. She was Co-captain of the dance team. And she took a full load of honors classes and also made time to take the application courses (like child care, shop, etc.). She's a very well rounded person. We often tease her for being the "reader" of the family. The rest of us stuck closely to math and science, but she excels not only in these, but also does well and enjoys other courses like English and History. I'm a proud big sister. And I wish that I could take some credit rather than giving her all the credit in spite of me.

I miss my sister. Now that she's growing up, I hope that our age gap will continue to diminish and we can become better friends. She's the kind of person you want as a friend - fun, caring, sensible, and intelligent. I could never say these things to her though. That's not how our family works. But she'll read this, and she'll know why I'll never tell her these things to her face. And hopefully she'll remember that I really do love her and admire her for the person that she has become next time I talk to her and affectionately call her "Goober".