Happy Birthday, Insight!

I, like my mother, totally spaced that it was my sister's birthday yesterday. I had a really busy day with work and my desire to finish all of my Christmas shopping. Anyway, I had meant to write a blog about her so here it is:

Growing up, Insight was a...how should we say it? An ingenious con-artist. She often had me run get her things upstairs for her with the promise of a quarter, or sometimes a surprise. The surprises were never really that interesting. I always did it just to be nice. When I was really young, she would often come to my brother and I with a proposition: If we helped her clean her room, then she would play Stage with us. Stage was a game we liked to play with her radio because a microphone could plug into it and you could sing songs. In our house, the entryway was elevated over the living room so with a stretch of the imagination, you felt like you were on stage. I never liked actually singing but I REALLY liked listening to all the songs and dancing around. I also liked just doing something with my brother and sister because it was rare that they wanted to do something with me.

Since Insight was 7 years older than me, and 3 years older than my brother, she was often put in charge of us while our parents were gone. She ruled the house with an iron fist...or should I say wooden spoon? You have no idea how many times she chased me around the house with a wooden spoon. I probably deserved it. I think I developed my problem with authority during those times. One time, I got tired of running and let her hit me with the spoon and then I hit her back. When my parents came home, she told them I had hit her. I yelled at them, "But she hit me with a wooden spoon!" My mother said, "But you don't hit girls!" I asked why. She said, "You just don't." And to this day, I never have again.

Insight and I often made fun of my brother when he wasn't around. I didn't like him because he picked on me, and Insight didn't like him for some other reason. Sometimes we would go together to mess with him, like opening the bathroom door while he was using it and leaving it open for anyone to see him on the toilet if they walked by.

Insight made me watch so many movies and TV shows when I was a kid that I would otherwise not have watched. I am so glad she did because I was so "ahead of the game" when I grew up and people had asked if I had seen any of those things. Labrynth, Adventures in Babysitting, and a some others are just a few examples. My mind is foggy right now but I know all of them when I see them and whenever I do, I tell whoever I'm with, "Yeah, I used to watch that with my sister all the time." And Labrynth is still a favorite of mine.

Insight has the best laugh. It cracks me up. Whenever she laughs, I laugh. She and I used to watch the Simpsons together, and that was my favorite show. She, to this day, still tells me that she loved doing that because she loved to hear me laugh which is ironic because I loved doing it because I loved to hear her laugh.

When I was in middle school, I used to dress like a gangster. I don't know why I did. Most of the other kids dressed like that and because I didn't know who I was or who I wanted to be, I dressed like that too. One day, when I came home from school, I told my Mom that I wanted to go shopping because I really wanted these new pair of baggy pants. My mother didn't want to and we began to argue. My sister came in and overheard the conversation and asked me, "Why do you want to dress like that? Why don't you just wear whatever you want to wear?" She said it in a non-confrontational way, softly, with true sincere. I don't know why, but something changed in me from that moment on. When she said that, I knew that I was a poser and was being someone I didn't want to be. From then on, I dressed how I wanted and didn't give a crap what anyone thought. That's why, even in college, I would wear shirts that I had worn in the 8th grade and sometimes dress like a homeless man, except not on purpose (sorry Stace-Ghost). I also had one of the best years of my life (8th grade) because I just didn't care about the little things anymore. I also met my two best friends who are still, to this day, some of the closest friends I have. I would not have met them had I not had that realization because I would have still been trying to act cool when I was really unhappy. Looking back, its amazing how such a sincere, sisterly, and caring moment changed my life so much. I love you Insight, and I hope for only the best things to happen to you in your life. Happy Birthday.