happy birthday book

I had a birthday recently and my sister Bettina's birthday is coming up. Ten years ago, she sent me the little book "Because You're My Sister" written by Jan Miller Girando and illustrated by Mary Engelbreit. Every birthday since then, we have added photos and notes to the book and sent it back and forth to each other by US Mail.

It is challenging fun to find an old forgotten photo and to write a memory of that year. The book chronicles our house hunting, remodeling, health challenges, our family's annual Women's Weekends, notes from our Sister Whine Line phone calls and history of our family. Some years the entry is little more than Happy Birthday. Other years produce elaborate photo fold-outs. Someday this book will pass on to our children and their children.

This year, my sister included a photo of me at almost three years old. I remember the dress, the chair, the feeling of being a "real girl" all dressed up.