Happy Birthday, Little Jenny Wa-Wa

I was five when she was born. And who would have known how far we would have come together. Of her 31 years, we've almost always lived in the same city until I moved to Baltimore -- save my three years of college.

We watched MTV together for way too many hours -- way back in the day when they actually played videos. We played bartender at the bar in my parents' living room, pretending we were married to George Michael and Andrew Ridgley of Wham -- and not understanding how anyone could even suggest that either of them was gay. We listened to Z89 (the college radio station from SU) constantly and made mix tapes off the radio.

She would sleep over all the time, and we'd hang out in the "mini-apartment" that was the upstairs of my house -- three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room just for me. She'd sleep over Thanksgiving night and we'd start making Christmas cookies the next day, all day. Christmas break was matinee movie time, getting dropped off at the mall. Young Guns I and II, White Nights...

She had crushes on all my guy friends, in high school and college. And actually got hit on by one of my high school friends when she was 12. Whatever happened to Dan Giblin, I wonder?

I taught her how to drive and do shots -- not at the same time. We could stay on the phone for hours on end, without talking, just simply watching TV together. In commercial breaks, we'd flip, without saying where to or which direction we were going in, and say, "oh my god, did you see that?" And inevitably, we'd be on the same channel, seeing the same thing.

I found Casey in the parking lot of her apartment complex, and she convinced me to give that little stray kitty a home. Now I can't even imagine life without the constant meowing.

And now she's in her 30s -- not just 30. And a mommy and a wife. When did we get old? When did we become grown-ups? We may, technically, be of different generations -- her mother is my sister, after all. But I couldn't be closer to her if she were my sister. In fact, I am definitely closer to her than any of my sisters.

So from me and the mouse in my pocket, you'll always be Little Jenny Wa-Wa to me. Happy birthday, ya big scrap book doing, flip flop wearing, 4th grade teaching, Sacajawea looking....