Twenty-One.

My baby sister, Janie, turned 21 yesterday.

Do I feel old? Yes. I do.

But I also feel incredibly lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful, beautiful, and talented little sister.

When Janie and I were younger, we shared a room; she had a lofted bed and I, ever the princess, had a canopy bed (I think it's worth mentioning that our father built not only our beds, but 90% of the furniture in our bedrooms. He's that cool.) At some point, my parents cut a large piece of wood to we wedged between Janie's mattress and side of the bed so she wouldn't roll over in the middle of the night and tumble 6 feet down, cracking her skull on the hardwood floor. Smart ones, my parents. This implement became known as "The Board." Of course, Janie is a midget (no offense to any actual midgets out there) and was therefore unable to lift The Board on her own. Occasionally one of my parents would put it up before they went to bed, but more often the task fell to me. And of course, the matter was not brought to my attention until I was under my blankets, half-asleep. The conversations went something like this:

Janie: Molly...

Me: mrmrmrmrmmmmm....

Janie: Molly?

Me: ajsksklduiej....

Janie: MOLLY

Me: WHAT?!

Janie: I need to you put The Board up for me

Me: I'm sleeping. Do it yourself.

Janie: Please?

Me: No. It's not my fault you're so short.

Janie: Please?

Me: No! I'm asleep. See? I'm sleeping.

Janie: But if you don't do it, I'll fall out of bed in my sleep and die.

Me: I don't see why this is such a bad thing.

Janie: MOLLY!

Me: FINE!

And I would mutter some four-letter words under my breath, stumble out of bed to her side of the bedroom, and shove The Board into place, thereby saving my little sister's life.

So here's to you, little sister.
Happy birthday.
Just know that I will always, always be there to put The Board up.

So you can continue to be awesome and save the world.

Addendum: I should mention that one time, I forgot to put up The Board, and Janie fell out of bed. But don't worry. The Barbie Dream House broke her fall.