My sister turned 21 on the weekend. I honestly cannot believe it. It feels like yesterday that she was a little three year old girl who said and did the funniest things and she always had me in stitches.
It’s so strange for me now that Jessie is 21 because I see her as a little girl still. So when she tells me about parties and nights out drinking fabulous cocktails and devouring pizza at 3am to soak up the alcohol, my instant (internal) reaction is “WHAAAAT?” before I remember, she is a grown up now. Accept it. If I’m lucky enough to have a little girl of my own, golly gosh, I will be such a hideously overprotective mother. How did my Mum do it with not one but two daughters? The constant worry I have when I know my sister is out for the night is ridiculous. And I’m just the sister.
You see, Jessie has always been my little angel. There is a ten year age gap between the two of us and when she was born, she became my best friend. I just loved her and cared for her and wanted to be around her more than anything. She was such a little character, always telling jokes and making her own fun from anything and everything. It makes me laugh so much to this day to think of the two of us singing Row Row Row Your Boat because we had a little joke where we wouldn’t look at each other when we sang it, but then if one of us snapped our head around to look at the other person, you had to try and snap your head back at the exact same time. Silly to anyone else, but how we laughed.
The nicknames I had for Jessie have stuck with her for 21 one years. It’s rare that I call her by her actual name, but rather the ridiculous names we came up with when she was just a little girl. Loop, Loopy, Loopalina, Munchican, Munch Head. Variations of all of these things. Jessminda. I did try to get Flubber to stick, purely because the movie Flubber came out when Jess was six years old and she used to dance like Flubber to “do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight, get down tonight” and it was hilarious. However, she HATED me calling her Flubber, so that was one name that was kind of off limits.
Of course during the teenage years, I do recall Jess telling me not to call her any of her names in front of people. I would get yelled at if I called out “Loopy” in front of her friends. “Naaaaat, you’re so annoying”. Ha ha ha.
I feel so happy when I think of my sister growing up and all of the fun we have had over the years. There was a period where we had some great house parties when Jessie was a teenager. Not the kind you might be imagining, but family parties where we had jelly shots, punch and a lot of SingStar. Good times. Jess and I would always be a team (trust me, I never wanted to go up against her because she would ALWAYS win) and we were hard to beat. Jess would sing properly (winning us the points) and I would be more into the performance part, up singing (badly and loudly) and dancing away. All of the aunties and even Mum, would get amongst it, singing out hearts out and having a blast. My Grampa would sit in the next room laughing at how horrendous we all sounded but he loved that all of his daughters and granddaughters were all there with him and that we were all being silly and having so much fun.
Originally when Ryan and I started planning our wedding, I was adamant that I didn’t want to have a bridal party. I thought it would be so nice to be just the two of us and perhaps our parents could be our witnesses. It sounded so romantic. Ryan on the other hand wasn’t keen on this idea. He was really excited at the thought of having his best friend as his best man and told me that our wedding was not a “barn dance”. He was right and now, I cannot imagine ever not having my sister as part of my wedding day. What was I thinking?! So, Jessie is going to be my one and only bridesmaid and I’m super excited to go shopping for her dress and to get our hair and makeup done together. She is such a beautiful girl and I’m so happy to have her by my side. I love that when I told Jess my idea for a hens night (which ladies, I’ve decided I will definitely do in Melbourne after Shanelle suggested it might be a good idea as more people can attend) she was SUPER excited and completely loved it. She has been so wonderful since Ryan proposed, her and Mum have been marking pages in wedding magazines and Jess sends me emails full of wedding inspiration.
And, lucky for Jess, she has had a little bit of practice having been in some wedding previously. I adore this photo of a six year old Jessie (the tiny little one in front, pictured with my Nanna) at my aunty Felicity’s wedding. Cutie pa-tutie. She just looks so innocent.
My sister is the best.
Love to you all,
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