Kid Sister

Okay, so I realize this is my third entry of the day, but I've been crazy busy the past couple of weeks and feel that if I don't post now, it just won't get done. So there, hopefully its worth reading.

I got a phone call today from my little sister. She's about 7 years younger than me and one of my favorite people on the planet. She called me up and I answered the phone with some trepidation. She generally has not called me in the past unless she has needed something or something has happened in the family.

However, to my surprise and delight, she was calling to see how I was doing. It seems that she was talking to her friend Tucker this week. He had mentioned how close he was to his siblings and she had thought about how close she felt to each of her siblings. She wanted to be closer to all of us and decided that she was going to try to be a better sister. As part of this, she decided to call Chad and I today.

I was touched by her gesture and just felt distinctly how she was growing up. She's no longer a little girl, but has become a thoughtful and sensitive young woman who has her head squarely on her shoulders. I've seen her make some difficult decisions in the past year or two. She has reasserted herself and demonstrated her faith by the decisions she has made. She has worked hard and succeeded at school both in her coursework and in her extracurricular pursuits. She has also labored diligently to earn money to pay for college.

As great as those things are, it was wonderful to see her thinking about things with more of an external focus. She mentioned our little brother Ryan and how she has worked to stop fighting with him. I think he needs that. He's the second youngest and as a result has had to put up with a significant amount of grief from his older siblings. I am sure that he will appreciate her support and friendship.

Living out here on the east coast by myself has had its ups and downs. I love living here. I have wonderful friends and coworkers. I am blessed to be a member of a great ward of young single adults who do wonderful things and are just plain fun to be around. The one deficit that occasionally gets me down is how far away my family is. The bulk of my family is out west. I do have some relatives in Michigan, but it's not like I can just hop in the car and go visit for the weekend. I miss being around my little brothers and sisters (I'm not discriminating against older siblings as I'm the oldest :), my parents, and my grandparents. At some point I hope to have the means to travel out west to visit them more often than once per year.

I am grateful for my family. I miss them and love them a lot. I know that their prayers for me have been heard and answered repeatedly. I think of them often and pray for them as they are working through their trials and temptations. I am grateful for the power of the priesthood and that my family has been sealed in the temple. Families really are meant to be forever and I know I want mine to be.