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Sister’s 40th Birthday!

by 188 Comments

Today is my little sister’s 40th birthday.   We had a surprise party for her on Sunday and I’m so happy we could honor her and decorate her up in gaudy party trappings!

She is an amazing woman.   She has been my rock during this grieving/recovering/rebuilding period.

She lives an hour away but comes to see me all the time.   To make sure I’m okay.   To see for herself that I’m not falling apart.

Or to hold my hand while I do.

I don’t know what I’d do without her.

She’s one of those gifted people who can do anything—-she can cook, clean, cut hair, hang beaded board, rewire a lamp, disassemble a large playset with a butter knife (in the rain),  raise children,  read a book in a day,  nurse the sick, comfort the grieving, laugh like nobody’s watching and listen to ‘High Cotton’ over and over again while we practice our clogging.

I made a video tribute for her but was unable to upload it because of  ‘copyright’ infringement.    I began it with ‘Hello Darlin’ by Conway Twitty and couldn’t resist adding ‘Stand by Your Man’ while the pictures of her husband played.

It was pretty priceless.  Just like her.


Bless her little heart, she had food poisoning 2 days before the party and was still a little ‘green’.   But she was a good sport and let us have our fun.

Her sister in law and my high school bestie, Shawna, hosted us.   She has such a beautiful house—-so of course I took a camera tour —-and thought you might enjoy the photos.

LOVE the built-ins and Graysen’s (Shawna’s daughter) turquoise room!

She has an awesome 2nd kitchen in her basement (left) and a gorgeous main kitchen with this brick flanked stove.

Her screen porch is to-die-for.   Love the ceiling and I think I’ll have to steal the double door entry idea.

Happy Birthday Sis! “I love you better’n anythang!”

As a side note, here in Appalachia, we call all our female family members ‘sister’. Sometimes we shorten it to sis or sissy but it makes the contacts on my phone confusing.
Is my contact named ‘Sister’ my sister or Caiti or Jamie or Kris? So then who is ‘sissy’?
Does anyone else do this? Or is it just my crazy family?

and um,  that’s day 2!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ruth Emond says

    Yeah-day 2!!! I thought I would check in before yoga and see if you had any goodies to share.

    What a wonderful time to have celebrating your sister. It is such a blessing to read about your special bond and how she encourages you, loves you and always lends a hand.

    I love that porch. It is my dream to have one someday.

    Hugs,
    Ruth

    Reply

  2. Ruth Emond says

    Yeah-day 2!!! I thought I would check in before yoga and see if you had any goodies to share.

    What a wonderful time to have celebrating your sister. It is such a blessing to read about your special bond and how she encourages you, loves you and always lends a hand.

    I love that porch. It is my dream to have one someday.

    Hugs,
    Ruth

    Reply

  4. Southern Gal says

    Day 2 – you can do it!  Happy Birthday to your sister.  She sounds like such a good sister.  I think she looks like you in the picture of her laughing.  We call our female family members girlfriend. 

    Reply

  6. Candice aka, Sissy ;) says

    My family is from Franklin County, Virginia (Moonshine Capital of the World) and we too call everyone Sis, or Sissy, and/or every female counsin and friend is an “Aunt” to our children 🙂

    Reply

  8. shaunna{sister} says

    my family is that way.  my sisters and i call eachother “sister”, my mom and aunt call eachother “sis”.  mom calls me and my sister “sis” grandma calls all of us “sister”  it’s confusing, but we love it!

    Reply

  9. Alima says

    uh oh….2 days in a row?!! Don’t get crazy now! 🙂 Maybe I should have never bet against you 🙂
    kidding, of course!
    The partys looks so fun! Sisters are awesome!

    Reply

  11. Karla says

    Edie, you do have the most amazing “sis” ever.  She never ceases to amaze me and I admire her like no other.  You are both lucky girls!

    Reply

  12. Christy says

    Precious!! I love parties…especially surprise parties! Our littlest one (2 year old) calls our oldest “sissy.” It’s so sweet. Before she started that I never thought it was cute. I call both of them “sister” a lot, and my own sister has started calling me “sister” more. As for storing names in my phone, I have to go with the person’s real name because my memory is just too bad for anything else. 😉

    Reply

  13. Laura West says

    Happy birthday to your sweet sister!  What a blessing to have her loving presence in your life! 

    I have an awesome Grandma that was born in Oklahoma just before the dust bowl hit.  Even though her name is Earline, her family called her Sissy her whole life.  I’m not sure how it fell out of use in our family… maybe because we have all been only children since her generation!  Maybe I’ll start calling my daughter Sister.  We’ll see if it sticks!

    Reply

  16. Luckyholliday says

    We do it a little different in my WV family.  It’s kind of random who gets to be “sister”.  My dad’s younger sister was “Sis” to everyone and I got to be “Sissy”.  But not all the girls get this privilege. ;^)

    Reply

  18. Janicequilts says

    We do a lot of ‘Sis’ in our family- for real sisters and also for cousins and nieces… I’m good with it. 😉

    Reply

  19. Esbee says

    Glad your sister had a great birthday! 40 wasn’t so hot but I am liking 41 a LOT more. (Thank goodness!) I am from NC and we do the sister thing here. My mom never called my aunt by her name, Nancy. I don’t think I ever heard her say her name unless she was saying Aunt Nancy to me. She was Sister. But I never realized my AUNT called my MOM sister too until we all went to the beauty shop one day with my Aunt. (She lived in a different town as us) We walked up to the counter and my mom said “we’re here there with Sister” and my mom pointed to her. And the lady looked at my mom and said, she’s not Sister! She’s Nancy! YOU’RE Sister!

    Personally I LOVE it. I don’t call my brother brother but some people do that to. I think it’s sweet. And southern and that’s why I love it.

    Reply

  20. tara says

    LOVE her house…gorgeous!!!!
    Happy Birthday to your sister!
    And yes, we call everyone sis or sister or sissy.
    it’s not just your family…. 🙂

    Reply

  21. Emily in NC says

    My sister is “Sister” to me and my daughter is “Sister” to us, my “Sister” also has three girls who are “(Big, Middle, Baby) Sister” to each other…so when we’re all together, it’s very confusing!  And by the way, my son is “Brother”…SO funny!  Yes, I am from the south!

    Reply

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