Happy Birthday!

Hello, friends!

In the Leong household, the new year doesn't start on January 1. It doesn't even start whenever it is that the Lunar New Year happens to fall in any given year. Nope, the new year starts on December 9, which is today!

Why does it start today? Because today is my sister, Chrissie's birthday! It goes like this. The sibs and I are spaced more or less 2 years apart. T and I are born in January, Phuzz is in May, and the Kid is in December. That means we have "even" years and "odd" years, which are always the opposite of the calendar year. For example, the year is 2014. T is 31, I am 29, Phuzz is 27, and the Kid is 25. Well, she was until today, which is why we start the new year today. Now she's 26 and we all start having "even" birthdays. Pretty neat, eh? =0).

There are a number of stories I could tell about "The Kid." I figure, if you've spent your entire life with somebody, you'll have a few stories. Whenever I think about my little sister though, there are always a few that always jump out to me.

Every kid goes through that phase when you play "slug bug" right? You see a VW beetle and whoever sees it first yells "slug bug" then gets to hit someone. I couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 but I remember seeing a beetle as we were getting into our car on the way somewhere. I yelled "slug bug!" and hit The Kid as hard as I possibly could, right on the shoulder. She... started... WAILING... I don't remember if if was Mama or Papa who said it but they said very clearly, "You NEVER hit your sister. You PROTECT your sister." I don't know if that's exactly when I started becoming super protective of her but that will always stick out in my mind.

One thing you most everybody knows about The Kid is that she's a cryer. There's no shame in it, she just cries more than average (or maybe I just don't cry at all so it seems above average to me). I've seen her cry in all sorts of situations; weddings, births, family meals, watching The Biggest Loser, etc. The one time I will always remember is at the movies. The Kid, Papa, and I went to a theater to watch Up. You know the scene I mean! I'm thinking to myself, "Man, this is really sad..." I look to my left, and Papa is asleep. I look one seat to my left and the Kid is literally sobbing. It's dark but you can easily make out the silhouette of my little sister crying uncontrollably. (Also, I laughed when I saw that, more proof that I may not have a soul...")

Harry Potter is totally a thing for the Kid. When HP7 came out, I made her a deal: I'd buy the book for her but she had to let me read it first. It took her 3 days to decide that it was worth it. On that fateful Saturday, the FedEx guy came to our door, she grabbed the book, threw it at me and said, "START READING!" For that entire day, and chore that Mama wanted me to do was immediately met with The Kid running down our hallway yelling, "I got it! I got it!" It was pretty sweet.

Above them all, I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to shake the memory of "Mony Mony" I don't know if it started during one of the car rides when I had to take her to dance, the kitchen of La Casa Leong, or somewhere else. All I know is that it's impossible for me to hear that song without thinking about rocking out with my little sister.

So, here's to you The Kid! A wonderful sister, aunt, and woman after God's own heart. May this year be filled with new adventures, more love for Jesus, and finally meeting Jeremy Lin.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam