My Sister

I talked to Tami this morning - what a gift to have a sister who is more of a friend than just someone I once shared a house with (and a bed...ooh, she hated that! evidently I was like my little Micah and kicked and moved a lot ~ sorry 'bout all the mid-night kicks in the ribs, Tam!) Anyway, I just wanted to share here about Tami's trip out to Vancouver last Fall for my birthday (which is, by the way, September 24th...please mark it on all your calendars).

This particular Thursday I was teaching my beginning voice class for Vancouver Christian Youth Theater (cyt.org ~ check to see if there's a chapter near you if you have dramatic children...ahem, Shelley...) and Scott had asked if we'd like to go out to eat that night. Now, before I go on I have to tell you my heart kinda had to be started up again after he asked that because even if we only go out to eat on Saturdays after church Scott will say we're going out to eat too often...he's so much like my Mom it's truly scary! So, when he asked if we'd like to go out to eat I purposely told myself NOT to try to figure out what was going on. So the boys and I head to our favorite restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes, and on the way there I'm thinking it would be so like Scott to have a bunch of our friends there to surprise me even though my birthday wasn't until Friday. But again, I did NOT let myself go there...I was telling myself I would be content if it was just Scott who was at the restaurant when we got there...and throughout the entire meal.

Yeah, I know...it was only him and I was disappointed briefly. However, I have a great husband and I wasn't going to let him see that I had wished to see a whole gaggle of people there waiting to wish me a happy birthday and eat salad and soup with us. So I smiled and laughed over my own dramatics ( I swear being around all those high school dramatists that day did it to me...I'm just not the dramatic type, honest!) and we headed inside to eat.

We had filled our plates with salad and Joan's Broccoli Salad (the best!) and gotten our soup and macaroni and cheese for the boys and headed toward a booth to sit down and enjoy our meal together. We were talking about my class when I noticed this strange little woman lurking toward us. Now I say lurking because she kinda had that "I'm a spy and don't want to be noticed" look about her as she began to slink our way. As she got closer it became very obvious that she was heading for our booth! I began to get my wings out to protect my little goslings from this weirdo when she began to smile and move toward my husband! WHO DOES THIS WOMAN THINK SHE IS??? WHAT IS SHE DOING MOVING IN ON MY HUSBAND!? Yes, he's a very good looking man, but he's MINE!!! BACK YOU FIEND! BACK!

And then she did it...she sat down right next to him and smiled at me. I'm looking at this strange woman with my mouth hanging open when it dawned on me...under that blonde hair (BLONDE HAIR!?) and those funky little glasses (cute glasses!) was MY SISTER!!! I could not believe it and immediately jumped up and hugged her and broke into THE CRUNCH. Yes, THE crunch...the Tami & Trayc and Daddy-O Gene Tooley Crunch. You know, when you're trying not to cry but you just can't inform your face to relax so it scrunches up and you look like that little old man from the bitter beer commercials only you're also starting to hyperventilate because you're holding your breath so you don't sob...it's beautiful, really. If you haven't experienced it you'll have to spend some time with us around a holiday when we're watching a dramatic movie and you'll be overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.

ANYWAY...I was thrilled to have my sister and my husband co-conspire to surprise me for my birthday and give me the best present I have ever gotten in my life. She's the best! Love you, Tam!