Sisters

I have two sisters. One is older than me, the other is younger. Yes, this makes me the dreaded middle child. We don't look at all alike, my sisters and I. If you say we do, well, you are lying.

My older sister is Christy. She's 33. I used to torment her by saying that she was one year, ten months, 29 days, three hours and three minutes older than I am. She always insisted that we were two years apart in age and essentially, we are. Christy is a natural brunette with fair skin and angular facial features. She is an amazing pianist. She teaches my boys piano lessons. She was born for this job. Despite the fact that we have no brothers, Christy is in her element with boys.

Christy is one of my best friends. We talk everyday. This is probably why she is nominated "Most Likely to Drive Me Crazy." She was born organized and is an overall clean freak with a high level of energy. She's been married 12.5 years and has 4 kids ranging from ages 11-2.

Andrea is my younger sister. She just turned 29. She is about 2 years 8 months younger than I am (note that I never went to the trouble to figure it out exactly). Like me, she was dark blond as a kid and has light brown hair as an adult. Like Christy, she has fair skin (I'm comparatively olive), but where Christy's features are angular, Andrea's are round and soft. Andrea is one of the funniest people I know. She has a dry wit about her that is both cutting and laughable.

Andrea and I talk several times a week and we agree on nearly everything. She is THE BEST person to take shopping. If you want to find the cutest clothes and have the most fun known to man--go shopping with Andrea. Unfortunately, Andrea likes to shop with Christy more than she likes to shop with me. I wish I could figure this out, but I just rack it up to being the slighted middle child.

Andrea is an amazing pianist (can you tell that both of my sisters are better at piano than I am and I'm jealous). She also has magic hair that looks perfect everyday. You don't want to know how much time she spends to make her hair look perfect, but it is dumbfounding. She's single and lives with my folks, which they love and it drives them crazy simultaneously. She wants nothing more in the world than to get married, but for the moment it's not in the cards. She also works full-time at a high-tech software company.

If they were to describe me they would say that I am the tallest, fattest and smartest of the sisters. They are both jealous of how smart I am. This doesn't mean that I'm the best writer--that distinction goes to Andrea who majored in English. But I could best them at an IQ test, math test, science test, etc. I'm book smart. I had a better GPA and ACT than either of them and I passed more advanced placement classes than both of them combined. They would point this out, because they are jealous. (Not unlike my jealousy over their piano playing ability.) They would say that I am a good singer and I would say I'm not better than either of them, just more trained.

They would tell you that I'm the family rebel. I moved out the city once and I pierced my ears when I was 18. Ooo, and I had a boyfriend in high school (he's now my husband). This is very rebellious for my family. They would tell you that I'm loud, annoying and I like to talk to strangers. Pretty much nobody makes me nervous, unless you invite me to a blogapalooza, then I'm terrified. But sit next to me at the doctor's office and be prepared for me to pepper you with questions while telling you my whole life story. They think this is weird because they are not extroverts.

They would probably mention that I've been married 10.5 years and I have 5 kids 8 years to 6 weeks old. They would probably make fun of how fertile I am and how I've accidentally gotten pregnant a couple of times. Then they would say that I'm a great mom, but a terrible housekeeper. I hope that they'd stop talking now, because really this is all too much information.

We all live within 5 blocks of each other for maximum friendliness and ease of driving each other crazy. You might not think that was a good idea, but we like it. At least most of the time.