Cotton

Today is the second wedding anniversary of my sister, Lilah, and my brother in law, John. I prefer to refer to John as my "brother-in-law" instead of my "sister's husband" because I truly feel like he is a member of our family. I've never had a brother but I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd want him to be like John Howard.

I'm blessed to have a wonderful family, most notably, I'm blessed to have a wonderful younger sister. Lilah and I are four and a half years apart. That age gap has helped foster a three pronged type of relationship. Growing up, Lilah and I were pretty much typical sisters. When we were small, we were often dressed alike. When we were older, we dressed nothing alike. We've weathered a lot together and I'd say, overall, we had a fairly typical sibling relationship full of admiration, rivalry, and sharing.

Being the older sibling gave me lots of opportunity to be responsible for my younger sister. From the normal babysitting tours of duty to some not so typical functions, I feel like Lilah and I have a unique bond and I'm proud to say she is my sister.

The most important aspect of our relationship is our friendship. To this day there are certain jokes or phrases that I can only share with my sister. In most cases, she knows what I am going to say before I finish the sentence and I don't know what I'd do without her. She has been an enormous source of strength for me in tough times and has been my cheerleader during tribulations.

That Lilah and John found each other is an example of the perfect in an imperfect world. More than anything, I love how good my brother-in-law is to my sister. It reads so plainly, but that is John at his core. He's a good person and I could not have invented a better person for my sister to share her life with. Selfishly, I'm glad that I can claim a bit of the relation because I genuinely enjoy spending time with both of them. John makes functions and outings complete and I know MY family is proud to be HIS family.

January 20th has enormous significance for me but not for the reasons most people would think. January 20th marks the day that I have seen my sister at her happiest and if you know Lilah, you know that's a pretty profound statement.

Happy Anniversary, Lilah and John!