"Little" Sisters

My baby sisters are all grown up!!

I know, I know, this is not exactly the day they suddenly become adults (they're now 28, after all), but their birthday always makes me think of when we were all little and how much has changed since then. Their birthday, far more than my own, makes me sentimental, a little sappy, in fact.

Recap for those of you don't know my family. I am one of five children, the middle child, technically, and my two younger sisters are twins. "PJ" is eleven minutes older, but we always say that "BB" just wanted a little alone time before joining the rest of the world (she probably wanted to make a grand entrance). They are not at all identical and, personality-wise, are extremely different. However, they go together like peas and carrots (HA! I had to do that one for some reason), and I cannot imagine one without the other. And I can't imagine who I'd be without them.

They were my only playmates when we were young. We grew up in a house just off of a highway, with no other children around, so we had no one to entertain or be entertained by except each other. The best part of having two siblings was that there was always someone who would want to play if I wanted to, and they could entertain each other if I didn't. I always had someone to fight with, boss around, and laugh with. We had as many issues as any collection of siblings, but the fact that we're still so close shows how we came though it...alive, relatively sane, with great senses of humor.

I took my role as "big sister" extremely seriously in spite of the fact that I was practically a baby myself when they came along (only 18 months). I don't remember ever not having little sisters. They taught me so much and keep teaching me new lessons all the time. Here are a few of them:

Patience: With two little sisters who are enthusiastic, natural performers with high embarrassment thresholds, and a tendency to tell every little detail of every story they wanted to tell, I learned to be patient. It didn't happen quickly or easily, but I now think I have quite a bit of patience.

Confidence (or disregard for strangers' opinion): Again, because my sisters love to entertain and don't mind doing so in the middle of a busy grocery store or when walking down the street. Seriously, my sisters regularly break out into song for no reason; it's like living in a musical sometimes! I used to be extremely embarrassed at moments like those. I couldn't imagine what horrible ideas other people had of us. Then, one day, I realized I didn't particularly care what they thought. Not only were they strangers whom I'd never see again (probably), but my sisters were having fun and, eventually, so was I. Once my sisters' "embarrassing" antics stopped bothering me, I stopped worrying so much about embarrassing myself. I'm not saying I never embarrass myself--I definitely do--but it doesn't affect me as much now as it once did. I don't dwell so long after the fact.

Willingness to accept affection: I used to be extremely uncomfortable with public displays of affection, even hugs. Unfortunately, my sisters have always been extremely affectionate and fond of human contact. Hugs, snuggling, holding hands: they couldn't accept that I didn't want any of it during my teen years. Over time, with their persistence, I once again enjoyed receiving hugs from friends and family. I don't necessarily offer the gesture, but I don't mind participating. (Weird way of putting it, but that's me!)

Courage: My sisters (all of them, but this post is about the youngers) are among the bravest people I know, and they have made me extremely proud of them.

PJ battled for her life as an infant after a complication and ensuing surgery, but her innate stubbornness pushed her through and continued pushing her. PJ has always been the renegade of the three of us, never willing to settle for less than she had planned, never willing to take action unless she had decided on it first, never willing to be told what to do, but we always knew where she stood. She's still that way to some extent, but she's mellowed. She takes advice and suggestions, but she will do what she knows she needs to do to succeed. At the beginning of this year, as many of you know, PJ joined the Army to play her flute (and about a million other instruments) for the band. She was having trouble finding a way to play professionally, so she found a way to do so and serve her country. Joining the Army was probably one of the scariest choices she's ever made, but she has thrived. She made a decision, stuck with it, and proved doubters (*cough*drill sergeants*cough*) wrong. She tackled the physical requirements, the professional requirements, and the personal concerns she's run into, and she still has a positive attitude. I could have never done it, but I knew she would.

BB has always been the most loving, giving person I've ever known. She has tons of friends and thrives when she has people around her, people who love her and she loves. When she graduated from college, she could have stayed in state, near family and many friends. Instead, she chose to follow her life-long dream of living in New York City. She wanted to perform on Broadway, live in the midst of all that craziness and culture, and have a busy social life. She didn't know many people in the city at the time, had few job prospects, not even anywhere to live for certain, but she went. And she has been enormously successful. She realized she didn't want to perform for her living, and she found a great job that has enabled her to live in a pricey city for around five years and still have fun outings with her friends (and give her family members a place to stay when they visited!). Now, she's made another difficult decision to move back to her home state, return to college, and become a teacher. That's another life-ling dream she's had, to teach history and drama (she hopes). Big moves, big dreams, and she's made so much of them.

My little "thithters" don't lose their dreams; they find ways to make them happen! They are amazing in so many ways, and I hope I grow up to be a little more like them someday.

Happy Birthday, PJ and BB!!! I love you!

Tyranny of Time!

That's right, folks...it's time, once again, for my bi-annual rant against the time change.

Today, we had returned to us the hour that was stolen early this year. The same hour we will lose again next March. Why?!?! Why do we continue to go through this? As far as I can tell, these time changes bring us very little. Sure, we have a little more daylight at the end of the day in the summer, but the days are longer anyway, so do we really need to alter time to make them even longer? Who needs the sun up after 8:00 or 9:00, anyway? Then, in winter, when we return to normal time, the days, already becoming shorter, grow immediately more depressing. I leave for work in the dark and return home in the dark (I'm exaggerating, but it certainly feels that way). Having time move backward one hour doesn't help.

Daylight Saving Time was, I suppose, a useful idea once. It helped during WWII, when people were afraid of air raids and had to keep their lights off. More useable hours in the evening allowed everyone to do what they needed and avoid adding to the danger of attack. Along these lines, DST in now supposed to help us save energy by having more waking hours of daylight, but I seriously doubt it works. I still use lights when the sun is up, and most of my power consumption is through electronics anyway, not my lighting.

When more children walked home from school, DST gave them more time to do so safely and enjoy part of the day after school outside. Now, children don't really play outside anymore, so that reason doesn't matter (again, exaggerating, but really...).

Another argument for the time change is for farmers; they can get through their work more easily when they have more hours at the end of the day. Now, I'm no farmer, and no one in my family (that I know of) is a farmer, so I'm not sure, but I assume that farmers work when the sun is out. They rise with it and quit working with it. I doubt the exact time of day matters at all with that kind of work.

My dad says that DST was the government's first attempt to convince the people to accept something completely unreasonable. If we would go along with them altering time, we'd go along with anything. I don't if I'd go that far, but I don't completely disagree. DST, in my opinion, is simply ridiculous and accomplishes little except to ruin my sleep pattern for a few weeks and have me driving to work in the dark when it ends.

Arizona, Hawai'i, and Indiana have the right idea: no DST! For the most part, their time is consistent year-round! I think they have a few parts that do go along with everyone else for DST, but the states as a whole do not. How lovely! I dream of a day when we get rid of the time changes and just leave time alone. However, since much of the world has adopted this practice (for no apparent reason), I doubt we'll ever return to a more stable situation.

Frankly, I don't care if we stay on standard time or switch permanently to DST, but I would love the permanence! My disdain for this practice will never falter, and I'm sure I will continue such rants as this one in the future. Down with DST! (I had to go for the dramatic ending.)