Auntie Rop, aka Nee-Nee

Today my sister Robyn joins the ranks of the 30-somethings. What a milestone -- your 20s are over my dear. On this significant birthday, I have been thinking about my dear sister and some of the things that make our relationship unique.

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Robyn is about the only person that I can talk to on the phone for more than 3 hours at a time, and still quite easily and quite possibly have another conversation with later that day. My husband stands in awe of this; he can't understand what two people could possibly have to talk about for that length of time. I couldn't tell you either, and probably neither could Robyn, but I do know that there is no silence on the line during that time, so we must be talking about something....

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I remember during university, crashing on the living room floor with Robyn; no mattress, no blanket, just a jacket each to cover us overnight because she had come to the city to help me pack up my place and move yet again, just as she'd always done at the end of each school year (except that particular year we packed up the bed and the blankets by mistake...).

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Or the time I had to drive to Tennessee for my 4-month internship, and she did not hesitate to make the 5-day trip across the country with me. (Of course it might not have been a 5-day trip if we didn't have to head due east toward the Great Lakes so SOMEONE could see Mt. Rushmore...).

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Since I've had children, Auntie Robyn (affectionately known as Auntie Rop to Luke and Nee-Nee to the twins) has given of herself consistently in ways that are far beyond the duties of a kid sister.

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When Luke's due date was approaching, and we thought he might be coming a little sooner than expected, who jumped in the car in Merritt, B.C. around 7 pm that evening and drove down to Corvallis, Oregon through the night, "just in case"? Yup, you guessed it.....Rop! (Turns out Luke was just trickin' us after all!).

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Now as a sleep-deprived mother of 3, when Nee-Nee comes to visit, mama gets to sleep in! And we're not talking about just one or two mornings here. We're talkin' EVERY SINGLE MORNING that she's with us! And we're not talking kids that get up at the crack of 9 or 10. We're talkin' EARLY RISERS here! This alone is such a huge gift! I so can not wait to return that favor to her someday, so she can really understand how huge it is!

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We are sad to live so far from Auntie Robyn now. Like a 9-hour drive wasn't far enough already. However, we do understand that the move up to the North Pole was definitely the right move to make for her at this point in her life. Thank goodness there's always those marathon phone sessions....

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Happy 30th Robbie-Dob!!