Merce's Late Birthday Post

Better late than never, no?

26 Reasons To Why I occasionally Love My Sister, Merce

1. Her compassion
2. Her huge heart
3. The way she gets everything I say, without explanation
4. Her 'episodes' wherein she laughs until she is blue from lack of oxygen
5. The way she will stick up for me
6. Unless she is mad at me and then she will take me to task, rather quickly
7. The fact that she loves my child as one of her own
8. Our drives
9. Her taste in music, which is really the mirror of mine, eclectic
10. Her strength
11. The fact that she doesn't even know the beginning of her own strength
12. The way she refuses to believe in herself
13. The fact that she was always up for playing "town" on our bikes
14. How she is when she is very drunk and so forlorn because she threw up
15. How she talks me through every single fucking thing in my life
16. The fact that she hasn't given up on me and my super melodramatic ways
17. Did I already talk about her giggle? Infectious.
18. The way she cries
19. Her love of all baby animals
20. She has the most awesome legs of any person I have ever seen
21. For teaching me to play pool
22. For teaching me to bartend (my most favorite job, ever)
23. For bartending with me
24. For sticking with me, even when she figured I was wrong and would only admit it to me in private.
25. For always having my back - with the skinny, little girls
26. For all the laughs we have shared, for the tears and the hugs, the fights. For teaching Miss and I patience and how to be a big sister. For the bond that makes people ask if we are twins.

Thank you for all of it. I don't know what I would do without you and I hope that you know whenever you need me, I'm here. I know that we go through our phases and on the off chance that we fight, we always say terrible, hurtful things to each other. But I also know, no matter how hateful and awful the words were, we'll be best friends again, within the week, complete with sheepish looks and reassurances that we love each other. God, how I love our make-up sessions. I could never live without you by my side, rooting for me every step of the way. I could never be who I am today if it weren't for you there, lifting me up and occasionally, dragging me by the hair, with a fork in my knee.

I love you, forever, Murph.