Tuesday Tribute.

To Hannie:

Oh, Friend. The years have flown by. It's like I blinked in the light of the blinding sun and opened my eyes to a Twilight Fading.

Ha. Remember? Do you remember it all?

Remember the time you, Kyle, and I made a lemonade stand? We had about two customers all day and one of them was a man who bought a scoop of hot chocolate mix. He paid $5.00 for it. I was grossed out when he added it to his coffee mug. But now I, too, know the joy of a mocha. We advertised for our stand with a homemade sign. We jumped up and down on the trampoline, holding it up. You bought purple pom-poms with your share of our earnings.

Remember when we went to the cabin (oh, all the times at the cabin!) and we were down by the water? We wanted to balance on the mini floating dock. So we stood on it together, dressed in our jeans and shirts. But then we lost our balance and fell in the water. My Mom said that if we returned to the cabin, we would not be allowed to get back in the lake that night. We were drenched and just wanted to put our suits back on, but we weren't allowed to. Remember?

Remember swimming lessons with Sunny? We were the oldest ones in the class.

Remember signing to each other in Mrs. Howell's 4th grade class? We could "talk" all we wanted and never get in trouble for "talking"! How clever we were back then. Ha.

Remember riding scooters in the Subway in Germany? Remember walking down the road, determining not to move so that the other person has to, then at the last minute dodging the Germans? Remember how every time Kyle filmed, he ended his shot by zooming in on a random person? Remember Diddle? And there was the night we ate in a Biergarten and the men were singing really loudly? I had a pasta dish that night for dinner, and we kept giggling at the men inside. We went swimming in a German swimming pool. I was scared to go off the diving board, but you and Kyle patiently waited in the water below for me. A German man saved my life when I almost drowned in the wave pool. We ate McDonald's for lunch that day. The Passion Play was fun. We watched the Olympics in the hotel. I remember exactly how that hotel room was laid out.

We died Kyle's hair blue. Remember? It turned out almost gray. My Mom came into the bathroom and helped us.

"Expression" by Helen Jane Long reminds me of us.

You, Hannie, are so important to me. My sister since second grade. The forts. The secrets. The dreams. Bike-riding to the Palmer library. Driving around with no destination or purpose in mind.

Even though we're growing up, know that I'll always love you; you will always be an important, integral part of my life. Thanks for being you.