Ten Years Ago, Remembering My Sister

I'm almost positive I haven't mentioned it here, but Halloween means a little something different to me. It's always been one of my favorite holidays; getting to dress up as ANYTHING you want, knocking on strangers' doors and given a gift, the mystery, the horror movies, the excitement. Ten years ago, I added something else to that list. It became the day we lost my sister.

I think everyone in my family has a copy of this picture of the two of us.

She died in a car accident Halloween morning, though we didn't find about it until the following day.

I'm going to share a few pictures of us in costume since it is Halloween. My mom always made our costumes. On the left is me as a clown and Crissy is on the right as a gypsy.

The next year Crissy got to be the clown and I wanted to be a Barbie. I ended up being more Preppy than Barbie, because. . .  come on how do you make a little brunette girl look like a Barbie?

My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved often. At times, my sister was the only friend I had. We were absolute polar opposites. . .ask anyone. We answered to nicknames like day and night or thunder and lightening. We fought constantly so that adults were often telling us, "You're sisters and that means you will be friends forever. You shouldn't treat each other that way."  Basically, they wanted us to learn to get along. We didn't for a long time.

My mom saw some movie with the "Sleaze Sisters" (whatever that is) and decided to dress us up as them. Yes, we're wearing garbage bags and some version of KISS makeup. Also, I won ugliest costume at the base Halloween party that year.

It got worse in middle and high school. We found our niches, our group of friends and they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Even into college, we didn't really ever hang out.

I had a hard time finding pictures of us together during those rough years. And, they were all a little weird, like this one of me apparently sniffing a nacho.

Or Crissy with her head turned and using the wrong finger.

Or this awkward shot from my high school graduation.

That all changed when Crissy became pregnant. The hormones or whatever calmed her wild demeanor some and we really became very close. She was my best friend. After the rough years we had as teenagers, I couldn't have imagined that would have been possible. In those few years we had as friends, we weathered some tough times as a family, and we were each other's shoulder to lean and cry on.

This was my 26th birthday and we were apparently cackling at something.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us as it shows how close we'd grown. It was taken at the same time as the one above it.

It was all cut short 10 years ago today. I always thought (and was always told) that when I had no one else, I would still have my sister. I depended on that fact. It's hard to bear that it's not true. I miss her daily.

Love ya baby sister!

As I already mentioned, when Crissy died she had two daughters. They were 3 1/2 and 6 months old at the time. I'm constantly thankful that those two are around to fill some of the void she left behind.  I'll be spending this Halloween the same way I have for the last 10 years; with my nieces (who will be dressed as a nerd and as Si from Duck Dynasty.) Yup, they're characters all right. It should be a wonderful way to spend the evening.

It's crazy how much these two look like their mother and me. Crazy!

I apologize for getting a little sappy here, but I wanted to give y'all some of my history as well as honor the memory of my sister. Today seemed like the day to do it. Thank you for giving me that chance.

I found this in my digging for pictures too!

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!