Happy Day to Dawnae!

Dawnae is taking her turn on the January birthday circuit. Yesterday, January 14th was her day, and I didn't get my happy birthday message up in time! I hope you forgive me, Dawnae, and I hope you had a great day. Happy belated birthday dear sis! By the way, I just love this picture of Dawnae & Rose from this past summer.

Janae & Dawnae enjoyed a girls' afternoon & evening out to celebrate Dawnae's day. Wish I could have been there! They went to a spa & out to dinner - a well deserved treat for Dawnae. Life is busy for a mom with 2 little ones 3 & under and another on the way, so a little R & R was a welcome relief, I am sure. Maybe Dawnae will comment & tell us about her day - or better yet, put up a new blog post on her blog, sharing all the wonderful details.

When Dawnae & I were growing up, we fought way too much! Dawnae took great delight in trying to tease & torture me, while I took great delight in trying to tell her what to do (which was next to impossible!) It now makes me chuckle when I think about the times when my parents first started leaving us alone. They always told us that if we fought while they were gone, we would be in big trouble when they got home. Inevitably a fight would ensue, and Dawnae would threaten to tell mom & dad. She knew that just the words "I'm telling" mortified me. I would spend the rest of the evening begging her to not tell. I am sure Dawnae relished having the upper hand in those instances!

As kids, we were like night & day, and still are, but we don't fight anymore, and I am glad. It is so liberating to outgrow our childish ways and appreciate each other's differences rather than be threatened by them. I look forward to the day when my own daughters can realize the beauty of the relationship between sisters & the blessing it is to have each other. Right now they are frequently thorns in each others' sides. As I watch my girls and the things they say to each other at times, it makes me regret the times that I was unkind to Dawnae. Why does it have to be so easy to hurt the ones you love? I think it is interesting that as a parent, when my children bicker, I often look at things through the eyes of the younger sibling, rather than the older sibling. Now I can observe the power an older sibling possesses to either build up a younger sibling or squash their thoughts, hopes, dreams & wishes. Thankfully, most of us survive our siblings & rise above it all to become good friends in the end. I am so thankful that Dawnae survived me and that we now thoroughly enjoy our relationship as sisters & friends.

This story from our childhood will forever be retold and made my girls laugh hysterically -

One night when I was babysitting, we had just finished dinner, with hot dogs as a main component of the meal. Dawnae & Phillip decided that it would be fun to have a food fight and the next thing you know, food was flying everywhere. I, on the other hand, could not see even an ounce of fun in food flying all over the kitchen and was furious because I knew I had to clean everything up before my mom & dad came home. The more frustrated I got, the more fun Dawnae & Phillip had. Then Dawnae grabbed a hot dog, hurled it across the room straight at me, & uttered a phrase that neither of us will ever forget. As the hot dog fell to the ground, she gleefully shouted, "let that hot dog roll!" I may not remember every detail of the infamous food fight, but I will always remember the exact words that Dawnae proclaimed. Dawnae, you better watch out if we're ever eating hot dogs together. I just might try to get you back . . . . ;D

Hope yesterday was a great day!