The Whole Story

We're coming up on ten months of living in Virginia, which is just crazy to me. At first, waves of home-sickness were constant, and now they have nearly disappeared. Things like cupcakes, friends, and just the general awesomeness of living near DC make it hard to not love this place. But every once in a while, I feel a sharp pang of, well, not so much homesickness as sistersickness. My sister Lindsay is in California visiting our other sister Amy right now, and I desperately want to be with them. Luckily (oh so luckily!) my sister Whitney lives here too now. Yeah, did you know I have three sisters? I don't know how anyone functions without sisters. I have seriously considered having eighty children just so Bria could have tons of sisters.

Back in April, Whitney surprised me with a visit. She and Sam were scheming since December for her to come visit me for my birthday. Everyday Whitney and I chat online, and I would constantly ask things like, "so, when are you coming to visit?" or, "have you bought your plane ticket to visit me yet?" And, sly fox that she is, she would deflect these questions oh so graciously with a "waah! I miss you too!"
Two days before my birthday, I was driving to Trader Joe's to pick up some last minute things for dinner, and there Sam was, walking with some strange girl down the street. "How odd he didn't call me when he left work!" I thought. And "why is he pushing that strange girl's suitcase?" As I slowly pulled up to them, I felt awkward. Sam was being a gentleman, making friends with someone who apparently lived close to us, and he was helping her with her luggage. Was I going to have to pick her up in our car and drive her to her house before we carried on with our day? I wasn't sure if we had room in our car for her suitcase. Why was that girl smiling so huge at me? She certainly had cute sunglasses and great style. I pulled over the car and rolled down the window. Sam and the strange girl just stood there staring at me while I greeted them. This was really awkward. The strange girl took off her sunglasses, and suddenly it hit me. Whitney! It was Whitney!! Yes, it's true. I didn't even recognize my own sister.
I just started yelling "What?! What?! What?!" and jumped out of the car. (With a very confused Bria still sitting in the back seat.) I burst into tears when we hugged. A girl can only go so long without seeing her sisters, and it had been over six months. Too long! We cried and cried before heading on our merry way to Trader Joe's to begin that great six days together. The best part was when, while Whitney was out here, we decided enough was enough and she was going to just move out here. She found a job and a house that very week, and now she lives here. She babysits, we get frozen yogurt, we swim in her pool-- it's awesome. It took off that last twinge of acute homesickness I was still feeling. Life is so much better with sisters.