laura's day

It's my sister, Laura's birthday today. She is also finishing her contract work for the summer on this Friday; leaving tomorrow for the Yukon with friends and then off to Hawaii. Life's rough for this 26 year old (front and center in the family-photo-op-sans-Sara picture at right). She's a good sister and I am missing spending time with her now that I'm back in Washington. We share quite a bit in common despite the four years between us; apparently we look alike (we've been asked if we are twins more times than we can recount this summer), we both enjoy being outside hiking or biking, we have the same faith, we have the Antarctic experience, we give each other grief over the various men in our lives, we can share a good cup of coffee together, and complain or take joy with each other with life's circumstances. There is certainly a comfort in having a friend around all the time to run, bike, eat, and watch movies with! Maybe I need to move a few miles closer to Sara now that she's in Washington again!

I pulled a photo of the family out of the archives today to honor Laura's birthday. Can you guess which pink firecracker is she? This was the very first photo on my very first camera 17 years ago. Notably, I am not in this frame as the photographer and a very embarrassed participant of the early '90's!

Happy Birthday, Laura! You're good stuff.