hey kate, thanks for being alive… no, really, i am so happy you are in this world. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A SISTER WHO HAS THE BEST SISTER IN THE WORLD! 

any girl that has sisters know what a crazy relationship it can be. it is like two souls connected on another level that even dr. oz couldn’t quite explain. my baby sister is six years younger than me, so we had an interesting way of growing up together. when she was born i remember dancing through the halls of my kindergarten yelling, ” i have seeeeester ” and clicking my heels as well as any six year old could. those dance moves then changed to sleepless nights when i realized that her and i would now be roommates and sharing a lease on the basement room. my mom trained me well, i was on diaper duty and would carry her anywhere i went. i think my mom must have totally let go of her crazy parenting to allow my six year old self carry around precious cargo in the form of kate, but somehow she trusted me and i fondly became known as her “second mom.” i was so proud that she was mine and claimed her as my best friend for life long before she could learn our secret handshake. 

years went by and she slowly grew up into a spunky little girl. sharing a room was a lot less like sleepovers and a lot more like days of drawing lines on the floor separating her space and mine. she was a mini me, anything i liked, she would like. anything i wanted to do, she tagged along and slowly but surely she weaseled her way into the true BFF spot regardless of if she was ready for it. we graduated to bunk beds and every single night we would recite a poem to one another, kiss hands, and grab each other through the rails of the bed before falling asleep. as she grew, i used her admiration for me to my advantage like any good sister would. i told her i loved washing my car and soon she was outside hosing and vacuuming it out for me. i told her i had wished the basement closet was my bedroom and for one whole night she slept in there thinking she had claimed the best spot in the house. we didn’t always get along but at the end of the day we loved each other to the core of our beings. 

years later i was off to college and kate had become her own lady. this smart, witty, brunette who happened to be way athletic and quite a genius. she grew into this gorgeous little runner who treated people well and who didn’t care what people thought of her. every time i came home from college i was blown away by this little girl turned woman who was supposed to look up to me, but i was mesmerized by her talent, her spunk, her love. we had become a team and i was her biggest fan and cheerleader. i helped her communicate with the parents when those teenage years crept in and was a listening ear through any high school frustrations. i hoped she still thought i was cool and was proud that she did everything to differentiate herself from being “jenna’s sister” and into being “kate.” i was obsessed with the fact that we could now share clothes and i could sneak into her closet like she did to me for so many years, payback time! 

this summer for her graduation present i promised her a week of adventures together anywhere in the country, her choice. we spent a week in the mountains hiking, dreaming, doing life and realizing that we had both grown up but that those days spent sharing a room had trained us to be awesome roommates, better friends, and less of a moving tornado of mess. that week we talked real, raw, authentic life and realized that we still have way too much in common to call it coincidence. 

my little sister is my hero in so many ways but trust me, she wouldn’t bat an eye at a blog full of mush. she would probably punch me in the shoulder and make a joke and move on. so, on your birthday kate, i want you to know that i think you are amazing, that i am proud of the gal you are, that no number of miles would change the fact that i think of you everyday, and that i am so proud that you are chasing your dreams with reckless abandon. i am blown away by you. cheers to another year as best friends, sisters, and everything in between. 

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY, KATER POTATER. 

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