Say hey to my sis--it's her day!

I've been waiting all day to find a good chunk of time to write out a birthday hello for my lovely sister. We apparently grew up in separate households and have almost none of the same childhood memories (except that we fought ALL the time like rabid animals), but we have the most amazing adult friendship. Our lives are completely opposite, but we understand each other perfectly. I don't feel like anything has ever really happened in my life until AFTER I've talked it over with her, which is thankfully just about every single day in a number of short conversations, most of which end with a loud shriek from one of our respective children and a "Shit, I have to go."

Belle, you are an amazing woman, mama and friend, and no in the world makes me laugh like you do. You are wildly inappropriate and yet the most normal person in our family (which is admittedly not saying ANYTHING since we live among so many wackos, and I know you get the brunt of that since you live so close to them). Since I'm typing this at the end of the day, sitting just beside the bathtub as Clementine bathes, I can't take the time to write much more than that, but I'm here in the Motor City wishing I could come sit with you and take slugs from the same beer, cleaning out your Tivo, crafting and gossiping all at the same time. Instead of that fun, I'm going to try to get your neice out of the tub before she has her third major meltdown of the evening. It's about to get ugly, and....well...shit, I have to go.

Happy Birthday!