Category: Inspirational

I just wanted to take a moment to talk about my sister. you may know her, you may not. If you do, you probably laugh more.
We grew up almost 8 years apart, so much of her early life was me simultaneously scaring the life out of her while protecting her from everything besides myself. I still take full credit for her fear of dogs that persisted through her childhood – thanks to a fluffy stuffed dog, a shoestring-leash and an inquisitive 24 month old who got the sh*t scared out of her when I made the dag ‘bark’ and come after her on the hardwood floor of our entryway. You’ve never really seen unguarded terror until you see it in the eyes of a toddler.

Somewhere along our time together, fighting over her stealing my cds and books, babysitting her and inventing the ‘car wash’ version of taking a shower, and cramming into our family suburban to travel across the country – she’s become my best friend.
Its been pretty amazing to have someone whose brain works the same way mine does and to know she will just get it – no matter how irrational I am being. Not only does she get it, but she tough-loves me right into the conversation where we recognize how our emotions and our being inside our heads all the time often backfire on us and take us away from showing people how freaking amazing we are.

She is an outstanding writer and her material makes my creative brain click on and I find myself wanted to take her stories and write my versions of them – or help her with her research to take her papers to the next level. I feel like where I am too full of prose in my writing she is direct, and articulate and hilarious. I think we could learn a lot from each other’s style of writing – like we do with other areas of our lives. Her Twitter is hilarious and her sharp wit and good sense of humor (which I’d like to think I helped shape) crack me up.

I was talking to a friend about strained relationships within their family the other day – and while there are relationships aplenty that are strained in my life – I am so very thankful my relationship with her is not, cannot, and will not ever fall into that category.
So that’s it, just a quick ode to my girl, P-h-o-e-b-e.

In the spirit of taking time to appreciate the little things in life, both to be a respectful person on this planet and also to help boost your mood, here’s a few from me:

The Little Things:

• being in the right place at the right moment to see something unusual or sweet: This weekend I was up super early Saturday and saw a couple who looked to be about 70ish, riding bikes with wicker baskets and yoga mats slung across their backs. I also saw a truck pulling giant jumbled letters – soon to spell out LOLLAPALOOZA on the grass in grant park.
• A cool breeze across the back of your neck when you roll down the windows as your driving in the morning sun: Same Saturday morning I was dropping off my car, driving up an empty Lake Shore Drive. amazing in itself.
• The way a baby sleeps: Got to take a nap with my niece who was visiting this weekend. 15 month olds sleep hard.
• Watching sailboats on a lake as the sun sets: Even though I don’t own one, its a gorgeous site
• Climbing into a bed with cool sheets and the reverse; being warm under blankets when the air around you is cold
• Hearing a child ramble in your second language better than you ever could: A french family came to look at the apartment I am moving out of and I was struggling to keep up with what the 5 yr old was saying.
• Sitting on a patio sharing a meal with people you love: Just, summer. nothing better.
• Going to bed with damp hair and waking up with it curly in all the right places, and smelling so good: This is rare, usually I have some kind of fro going on. but man when this happens its great. No prep time!
• Farmers Markets and fruit that looks too good to eat

There’s always a million more but this list was inspired by this past week/weekend activities.