Julie, my youngest sister

Having a little sister can be fun and frustrating, sometimes all at once. I actually have two younger sisters and one younger brother, though we are all getting older daily. My youngest sister is my topic of the evening. Her name is Julie.

Julie is 18 years old. She’s a sweet little thing (except when she’s not). Julie is one of my big mysteries in life, though I’m beginning to understand her more as she gets older. Two years ago I wasn’t at all able to understand her mode of thinking and why she was happy when she was or why she was upset when she was. I was wholly unable to comprehend any of it because it didn’t make sense to me. Sometimes it still doesn’t, but that’s fine because that’s a part of who Julie is.

Julie is the looks in our family. It is agreed between Laurel and I that Julie is quite beautiful, the most beautiful of the Riendeau daughters. She’s also the tiniest. She is the lightest little feather a person could pick up. Julie is funny, sarcastic, and well liked by all that she knows. Julie is fun. I haven’t always found her fun, but I see from those that she’s with that they have fun if Julie is there. As long as there’s a Julie around there are smiles on the faces. Her quick wit has everybody on their toes and often laughing. She’s almost always the life of her party.

There was a time recently, within the last two years, during which Julie was losing interest in what was around her, with the exception of her boyfriend. There was a time when she was living her life for him. All she did was based on whether he could or could not be there, on whether she would miss a phone call or not. Recently, within the last two weeks, that all changed. She’s been able to grow a lot. She’s been able to get more involved in the youth group at church. She’s involved acting in a drama with them. She’s been concentrating on her studies a bit, trying to decide what she’s going to do with herself when she graduates. She’s got all of the adult concerns in her life, and I’ve missed seeing her grow up while I played here in Holland. I see her in 14 days, and I’m eager to be with her again. She’s my little sis. And she’s extremely special. And even though in past years I’ve found her to be one of the most difficult people to understand the more I let myself get to know her, and the more I get to talk to her, the more I realize how very wonderful she is and how very much I love her.