A birthday tribute to the little 'un

Today is my little sister's birthday.

Well, it's tomorrow really, only it's tomorrow today in New Zealand, if you get what I mean.

We were born four days shy of three years apart.

Now you're really confused, huh?

During our two short weeks together last month, we spent an inordinate amount of time laughing about our similarities, even though we only lived together for fifteen years. I actually compiled a list so that I wouldn't forget.

Of course I did!

And what better day to unveil this list to the world than on Anne's birthday?

Some of the things have developed simultaneously and we were unaware of the trait in the other. 

Some of them we have introduced to each other, like this one.

Anne is a newly-born fan of Leonard's gravelly, seductive voice, as she should be!

We both love glass objets d'art, including old bottles and jars. One of our favourite pastimes is visiting fine art galleries and, even better, buying some of it. I brought home a suitcase full of pottery and old bottles that we saved from Mum's house when we cleaned it out. And I am totally jealous of these jam jars that reside in Anne's fridge, although I tried not to let it show.

No, there are no sea shells in Anne's fridge, I was just trying to be artsy.

Our penchant for pukeko garden art, and pukeko art in general, has no boundaries.

We adore travel adventures, and luckily our husbands are happy to tag along.

We love to ride in the front of fast, bouncy boats.

But you already knew that.

We dote on our grandchildren to the point of being sickening.

But you already knew that too!

We stomp when we walk, we are the Queens of Google, we love to wear our cuddly robes in the early evening, we burp when we eat apples, we give away money to all kinds of people, we have synchronized hot flashes (only she calls them "flushes", which reminds me of toilets) and we could live on soup and nothing else. As long as we were allowed chocolate, of course.

We never met a recipe we couldn't mess with, and cook more by instinct than measurement, although Anne has taken that principle to an extreme. We love to eat leftovers and never throw away food. We are frugal and responsible and downright annoyingly RIGHT most of the time. 

We love our lives, imperfect as they are, and I am grateful that, considering I wasn't a very good big sister when we were growing up, Anne still seems to love me. And I forgot to leave a birthday present for her, even though she gave me a really nice piece of glass art for mine (which is still in New Zealand, due to my overweight luggage).

My sister bears the lion's share of responsibility for our mother's care, and for that she deserves a medal. 

But all she gets is this lousy blog post.

Happy Birthday, Anne!