The best birthday present EVER!

This is my sis. I love her. We have been through everything together. Of all my siblings she is my only natural sibling; we have the same mom and the same dad. So...we relate on all sorts of levels that my other siblings and I do not. We just get each other. My sister a very giving person and I don't give her enough credit. Today she gave me the best gift anyone could have given; her time. I have been feeling completely overwhelmed and have even been feeling quite "panicky". You know, your heart starts racing, you can't breathe, the walls are closing in on you...

Well, last night I called to complain to my sister. She gets this a lot. I complain a lot. She's used to listening to me whine and complain about my crazy life. We're at different stages. She has two kids, 13 (almost) and 10. So, we have different kinds of craziness. We laugh at each others hectic lives and she tells me what I have to look forward to and I remind her of what she's already been through.

The best thing about talking to my sister is the fact that she actually listens to me. Instead of her trying to "out do" my stress with hers (she has plenty to be stressed about, even more than me) she just listens. I am guitly of not listening enough and trying to "out do" who ever I'm talking to at the moment. I think we are all guilty of this at one time or another. But, my sister listens. When I told her all I wanted for my birthday was a clean house, she didn't go on and on about what a mess her house was and how hard her life was and how she doesn't have time either... She just showed up. Yep, she showed up. My sister, who can't afford to take time off of work did. My sister, who is working 10-12 hours a day and barely has any time to clean her own house cleaned mine. This was no easy task. She doesn't live down the street or in the next town even but on the opposite side of the county. She had to arrange to take a long lunch and will work late into the night to catch up. She has health problems and doesn't always feel great but she came here and worked her butt off just to help me.

It's pretty wonderful to have sister like this. One who knows you well enough to know that when you say you're on the edge you mean it. And...does something to help. It was a huge, HUGE relief to have my house taken care of today. I really think it helped pull be back from the edge. My house is clean. Now, if I could just do something about these invoices...