An Ode to EeEe

"EeEe, You funny little, sunny little EeEe"

"Hey you, over there..."

These were the opening lines of silly songs I used to make up and sing in the quiet of the night to my older sister, Erin (aka EeEe)--I have all but forgotten everything but these snippets...

(And yes, our mother tended to dress us alike, as if we were twins, ignoring the fact that we were 3 1/2 years apart...)

She and I shared a room until our older brother went away to college. I am pretty sure I had my stuff moved into his room before the car actually cleared the driveway...I was in 6th grade, Erin was in 9th. She was my first roommate, and we couldn't wait to get away from each other.

Of course, we had our sisterly moments where we split the room down the middle with jump ropes tied together (She had the 1/2 with the door, so I was "trapped"), we co-existed with our decorations: my half was filled with Cabbage Patch Kids and then Michael Jackson. I'm sure she was mortified.

However, earlier in our childhoods, it was fun sharing a room. We played "baseball" with rolled up socks for balls. If you hit the "ball" you had to run the bases without touching the floor. We played "I see something" (Our version of "I Spy"). I was so predictable. I always said, " I see something peachy colored". This referred to my sticker of Han Solo on my dresser--hairy chest and all. I remember a lot of fun sharing our room. When my Dad would inevitably yell up the stairs, "Do I need to come up there?" when we were up to our usual hijinks, we would answer in unison, "No, Dad" followed by stifled giggles.

Once my sister went away to college, and we no longer had to share living quarters, we became the best of friends. She has helped me through the trials and tribulations of my 20s...always supportive without judgments. She is my best friend and I rely on her even more than I used to (which was a lot) now that I'm a mom too.

She's been so supportive of me trying to figure out this whole parenting thing...I sometimes feel guilty thinking back on her early days of motherhood. I was in college when she had her first child. Breastfeeding, diapers and baby spit up were not in my realm of understanding...

I love that Bobby calls her EeEe now...it's like I passed that on to him. He loves her and of course she corrupts him like any good aunt should do!

When we would fight and complain to my mom she always imparted her wisdom to us saying she had no sympathy because she always wanted a sister and didn't have one. This was supposed to make my sister and I appreciate each other. It didn't work then, but I can now say I understand what our mother was trying to tell us. There is something special about the relationship of sisters.