My sister. My Best Friend.

Growing up with a sister who is 18 months older than I am, I always thought I wanted my kids close in age as well. Darcy and I fought sometimes but in all honesty we always made up quickly. We shared a room for a long time as young girls and so we really didn't have much choice or many places to hide from each other when we were mad at either one. Sisters are wonderful. They are a given best friend. You don't even have to do any work to make them your best friend. I am so thankful that Darcy is my sister, who also is my best friend. We got really close my senior year of high school, which was her freshman year in college, where she was two hours away from me. I remember being so excited to be "an only child," but quickly shed many tears when we dropped Darcy off. I felt so sad. It was like I like a piece of me. And for the first time in my life, I was doing a "first day" thing without my sister. She was two hours away, doing her own first day stuff. Then time came for me to decide on college and for a while I struggled with the idea of going to the same school as my sister. Mostly because I knew she had already made all the friends and I for once wanted to make my own friend. Darcy and I shared many things. Clothes, toys, computers, cars, and friends. Who ever was her friends, also were mine because we spent so much time together and vice versa. For once I wanted to make my own friends, silly selfish 18 year old Grace.

Anyways, I ended up at the same college Darcy was at and that was easily the best choice I've ever made. If Darcy and I were best friends before that, I hate to know how little we truly liked each other because our love grew for each other over the next three years. I practically lived under her bed the first year of college. My dorm was a two minute walk to her apartment. Second year, we lived together in the same apartment with two of our sorority sisters and that year, I also met the sweet love of my life, David. It was in that year, I knew I was not going to return home to Charleston and that I wanted to stay in Florence for the summer and after that as well. I knew David and I would either make Florence home for a long time or start our own adventure when the time is/was right. I also knew that with as close as I was to Darcy, I couldn't live with her that last year of her college years because my heart would literally shatter when she would move out and onto wherever her fiancé would be, (for a while Ohio, but thankfully before Darcy graduated he got a job in Greenville).  So I got an off campus apartment, and lived again within walking distances of Darcy. My world consisted of my two D's, Darcy and David.

Darcy will always be my best friend. We share a bond that many other sisters have between them but somehow it feels different. Maybe it is different for all sisters. Maybe one day I will know with my children but my children probably won't be as close in age as my sister and I are. It also feels different because my sister and I equally take care of each other. Darcy takes care of my and my lack of hearing. She is always the buffer in-between when people don't understand that I can't hear. She repeats things or she flat out answers for me and makes up some really good excuse for why she answered and I didn't. She finishes my sentences and I finish hers. She understand my stress face without me having to say a word. Darcy just knows. And I do the same for her. I keep Darcy organized. I know where she placed her keys, yet I can never find my own.  When something of Darcy's is lost, I simply think like Darcy and find it.

There's a reason behind this long lengthy love sap about my sister. Darcy and I both knew we wanted our babies to be close, like her children and my children. We want them to close in age and do things together. Praise the lord our babies are just over six months apart. It allows for lots of fun things and time to happen.  Like Cousin Week Part 1 in Charleston and Cousin Week Take 2 in Greenville. We will also be having cousin weekend next week! Yippee!!! Blogs on those weeks coming!