Growing up German - My Little Sister

Luckily, this post is not by Max or Noah. I am not having a girl. I am not pregnant. If you have been reading this blog for a couple of years, you will recognize this post. Because I pretty much published the same thing for her 28th Birthday! Lame, I know. I don't even have a very good excuse for not writing a new one but I did edit this one!

This post is about my little sister Emily
who is turning 30 today!

Happy Birthday!!

She is 16 months younger than me, which means that I am turning 32 in October! Crazy!

It has been really fun having a sister that close in age. Growing up we definitely fought a lot but we have always been very close. She is the best sister I could have asked for. She is also my only sister. Only sibling, as a matter of fact.

I don't know how my mom did it. But I know it was hard. Look at us. One (Emily) screaming, one (me) pouting. We were born in the early 80s and I love the style. You should see us in our early teens. In my opinion the early 90s are pretty ugly. I wish I had pictures. When in Germany this summer, I will scan some and show you just how ridiculous some of our outfits were!

Spring 1982

I credit some of my athleticism to the early arrival of a sibling. At 16 months I had to pretty much walk everywhere. We are not talking about walking from the car to the house. I mean German walking, i.e. to the butcher, the baker, the Grandparents, the train station, the play ground on the other side of town. Did I mention we lived on a (rather large) hill? As you can see, I have been building up my endurance for a long time. No double-strollers back then. But they did have bike seats for kids. My mom had two on her bike. One in the front and one in the back. I am not sure how she managed to put one of us on her handlebars and one on the luggage rack and actually ride her bike without all of us crashing every 2 feet. She is a strong woman!

We actually still live on the street that this picture was taken. At the time, we just went to see my Grandparents. Later, we moved into the same house which is in a small village called Ispringen with about 6.000 people in it. There is a big city only 3 miles away though. It was a great place to grow up.

Summer 1982

Emily and I were both on a swim team about 10 miles from our home to which we rode the train and/or bus. I am pretty sure we did so by ourselves at age 7 or 8. One time I left my bag on the bus. I just stood there and cried: "My bag is still on the bus!" But Emily was already sprinting next to the bus, caught the driver's attention and rescued my bag. Things like that happened all the time. She is my hero.

One day, when we were about 7 and 8, we told my mom that we were going to bike to the playground. Little did she know that the place I had in mind was about 6 miles and 3 villages away. Emily wasn't very excited about my idea but I could pretty much always talk her into anything and off we went. I definitely took advantage of my persuasiveness.

Christmas time 1983

Can you tell that this little toddler is going to turn into one tough girl? I remember countless times in our youth when guys would have arm wrestling matches and then Emily would come along and easily beat the winner! So fun to watch and I sure am proud of her. I haven't dared to arm wrestle her in a long time and here is why. She is still just as buff.

She is going to kill me when she sees this picture.
Especially since I cut myself out of it.

We can't wait to see our favorite sister and aunt this summer when I take the boys back to Germany. It is going to be so fun, I can hardly contain myself! Sometimes it is hard to be missing out on all of the family fun back home! Emily's girl, Lynn, will be almost 3 by then and should make a great playmate for Max. Emily is expecting again and we are thrilled to have another baby cousin!

With Max in October 2008

Having lots of fun with Noah

We love you lots!