"They Say It's Your Birthday..."

Today is a landmark day. Today my sister turns fifty.

Sounds like such a nice even number. Harmless.

But I think it's a number that has us both a little freaked. She turns fifty, then my brother turns fifty then a two year lull and it's my turn. How can that be? We're still children. OK, we still act like children. What's the difference? 

I still remember our mother's fiftieth birthday. It's like it was yesterday. We had a cake that had fifty candles on it and the whole house was filled with smoke!  We made her martinis. We had no idea how to make martinis but we tried. The pitcher was in the fridge the next morning and my brother came into the kitchen and took a gigantic swig thinking it was water. We all laughed so hard we couldn't breathe! Except my brother, of course. He stormed out.

My grandmother was still alive and she threw her a party at my Aunt Isabelle's house. I remember her calling my uncle and asking him to come for the celebration. He didn't. He told my grandmother what he wanted to give her. She had a frame and there were fifty one dollar coins made into a fifty in a frame.

Big deal! Fifty dollars in coins for such a significant landmark? I wasn't big fan of that uncle anyway. Nothing I can think of seems like enough to give my sister! I guess my uncle and I think a lot differently about the importance of our siblings.

I thought of sending her flowers. It's a nice gesture but they don't last. Or one of those fruit arrangements. That would be nice. Something to snack on for a week.
I thought of taking her on vacation but neither of us can afford a vacation right now. A puppy? Cool but not really practical. She can't have pets where she lives, anyway. I feel like the shepherd at the birth of Christ.

I have nothing to give her that could possibly match how grateful I am to have her as my sister. No subscription or trinket or jewel could possibly equal her worth.

I could get clever and give her fifty somethings-fifty free haircuts, fifty cups of coffee from Dunkin, fifty chocolate bars spelling out her name. Fifty gnomes on her front lawn. (Damn! Why didn't I think of that sooner?) 

What can I give her that would show how much she means to me? I could give her the world and that still wouldn't be enough.

If I had won lotto this week, I'd have first booked a trip to someplace warm with a beach. It's always been her dream to wake up on her birthday and go to a warm, sunny beach. Then I'd get her that Vespa she's always wanted. The green one. Then I'd buy a big house and we could all live together but not too together. Then, after the vacation, we'd pay off all our bills and I'd buy her a car. And a big fluffy dog. Then we'd take everyone to Disney and all wear matching shirts celebrating Steffi and her fifty years on earth. (Though technically it's fifty one, right?)

But, alas, I did not manifest my lotto destiny. So we will just have to celebrate in a much more economical way. Dinner out with some friends and family seems like the way to go.

I have tons of memories of my sister as I grew up. I was always worrying about her because she had asthma attacks and I would wake my mother in the middle of the night to tell her Steff needed her inhaler. One of my strongest of these early memories is the night after she had an attack. My mother often found me asleep in Steff's bed because we had our beds pushed together for the longest time. Until Frankie, our brother started hiding under them and waiting for me to gravitate toward the middle then pull them apart. I was a little nothing at the time and that was long way down! Anyway, I was asleep at the foot of her bed with my giant and most favorite Teddy bear, Fluffy. I woke up to my mother getting us both in the bathtub. I was still wearing my jammies. Apparently Steff woke up and got sick all over me and Fluffy! She tried to salvage him, but, sadly, he was never the same! But Steffi was just fine. Good times.

So, today, I will dedicate this blog to my sister, Steffi. She is the smartest, funniest, greatest, beautifulest sister anyone could have. I know it's not much of a gift but at least, now, the world knows how amazing and wonderful she is!

OK, I'm flattering myself. Maybe not the world. Maybe only she and I know. But that's enough. I love you, Steffi! Happy Fifty Years on The big Round Ball!