My all-time favorite website, modcloth.com, is hosting a Thank-a-Thon blog competition this Thanksgiving. For the contest you're to write about someone or something that you are thankful for, post it on your blog, and the winner recieves a $100 gift certificate to modcloth.com. When I saw this contest, I couldn't resist taking the time to thank the one woman I look up to the most, my sister Christine. So this blog is about how she affected, influenced, and blessed my life :)From the day my sister came to live with us, she has always been an extremely influential person in my life. She was one of my mother's students when she was 17, and when she needed a place to stay, my parents provided her with one. As a 2-year-old, all I understood was that she was my sister, but that understanding never changed as the years went by. As a child I looked up to her as the girl who taught me how to braid hair on a Barbie, played "real" Blue's Clues with me, and always let me sit in her lap when I was scared. Now, I am almost 16 and I still look up to her but now as the woman who is confident in everything she does, loves with all her heart, and stays strong no matter what life throws at her.
She has always been there for me not only as a shoulder to cry on but as a continuous fountain of advice and love for each and every situation or dilemma. No problem has ever been too big and no question has ever been turned away. Others may have walked in and out of my life, but my sister has remained a firm and loyal presense since day one. I am extremely thankful for her and all that she has done for me because she didn't have to do any of it. No one forced her to be my sister; no blood lines connected us or tied her to me against her will. She willingly took on and embraced an over-dramatic, prissy, girly-girl, fashionista-wannabe of a 2-year-old as her baby sister and never let go.
As I was growing up, many frightening situations came my way, but no matter how silly or unfounded my fear, my sister never hesitated to put me in her lap and go with me so that I was never alone. When I was 2 years old, the fear was sitting on Santa's lap at the mall. I can't think of any 17 year old who would sit on Santa's lap with her baby sister in her lap just so she wouldn't miss out because she was afraid. But my sister did that for me. When I was 3, the fear was a tall slide at a carnival. Needless to say, my sister pulled me into her lap, sat down, and we flew down the slide together. Now, at 15, I'm no longer afraid of Santa or of going down a slide by myself, but life does still manage to throw some frightening situations my way. However, I know I can make it through whatever comes because I know my sister will be there to pull me into her lap, and we'll go through it all together.
This Thanksgiving I just wanted to let her know that I appreciate everything she does for me and that I am so very thankful that God brought her into my life. I can only imagine how different and incomplete my life would have been without her and how different I would be if she wasn't there to help raise me most of my life. My sister has formed me into the woman I am supposed to be and showed me how to be strong and confident in everything I do. I wouldn't be me without her.
Link to the modcloth.com Thank-a-Thon! - http://blog.modcloth.com/2009-11-09-thanksgiving-thank-a-thon-blog-contest?utm_source=NL_thanksgiving-blog-contest_11-9-09&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thanksgiving-blog-contest
