A belated Birthday post:

This is a belated Nikki-Becca post, for her birthday. You notice I feel the need to hyphenate your name, Nik. This is because the consequences of changing your name so long ago continue to haunt you, my dear...as the old pastor said, "You can blow out a match, but you can't blow out the forest fire that one name-change can start." Or something.
Anyway, it WAS your birthday...and I'm sorry I didn't post. But I wanted to ensure you know how much I love you and value you as a sister and friend. I think that you're doing GREAT and I'm so proud of how you're evolving and building a new life for yourself. I think you're making some really good decisions in the work you're doing, and just the life you're choosing for yourself in general. If this all sounds patronizing I apologize, but this is all true. Good for you! You're well on your way and I'm so proud to have you as a sister.
And apropos of nothing, I would like to share a favorite Nikki story from our childhood:

We siblings used to get presents from our Grandparents who lived across the seas in the form of care packages, or boxes, that were filled with clothes and toys. It was like Christmas whenever they came, and I still to this day carry a torch for Sears because my Grandma used to order stuff for us from them. Mom would get their catalogue and go through it, ordering things for us, and we also would get ahold of it and drool for endless hours over the things hoped for, but never seen. It's ok, the wanting was better than the getting in this case.
Anyway, one year we three oldest girls got these BEAUTIFUL teal blue dresses. They were true flyout dresses (yes, those are italics, you must say it in italics), and to complete our happiness, they possessed a matching satin ribbon, sort of ruched, all around the bottom of them. I may own many dresses, but I think few are going to compare to the beauty I felt these dresses possessed. So we have a picture of us four girls posing together in these dresses, a sort of glamour shot. To go back to something I mentioned earlier, we three oldest girls got these dresses. What was Nikki wearing then, you ask? She was wearing OVERALLS! TEAL OVERALLS! You must understand, Nikki was the child that would rather have died the death than wear pants. She used to throw screaming fits, per Mom, if she couldn't wear a dress at the age of 2. So in this picture we three oldest are smiling, secure in the possession of our teal-dress fabulousness, and Nikki is wearing this grin that indicates that, although she is smiling, she is inwardly as a ravening wolf. We are told by Mom that she threw a huge fit over wearing those overalls that day. And that is a favorite Nikki moment. Why? Because I rejoice in her overall wearing, as a true sadistic older sister should. And also because it shows her innate fashion sense at a tender age. And her inward self-knowledge...she is opinonated, and always was, and always will be. It's a good trait, to know your own mind.
So Happy Birthday, haney! Buy yourself a dress. Maybe I will if I can find a teal one with a flyout skirt and a ribbon around the bottom.