Stephanie Ann

Dearest Stepho, 

I miss you sooo much and wanted to take some time to tell you just how special you are to me! 

When we were little, you were not my favorite person. You didn't enjoy playing school by my rules, hated doing the math worksheets I gave you, and were seriously the worst student ever. You would pretend to write on the desks and raise your hand constantly just to piss me off. 

There was that one time you punched me in the face at the lake and knocked out two teeth because I stole your float. 

And the time you pinned me against the wall by my shirt infront of my childhood crush. (I was such a pansy!)

When mom made us clean our room you would find toys we thought we had lost forever and play with them while I cleaned. I swore that if we ever got our own rooms mom would see that it wasn't me making all those messes (and I was right!). 

Let's not forget the time you put a knife up to me for the last piece of pizza or the time you called Grandma Ruby because you thought I was going to beat down the door and kill you after we had a major fight. 

I also remember every summer, every single day of every single summer, us getting our spegettios ready at 11:45 so we could watch Days of our Lives promptly at 12:00. 

And how you would ask me to braid your hair in the mornings only for you to take it out immediately because it was "too tight". 

How that one time we wanted to see what would happen if we put Lucas salt in the microwave (hint...it catches fire!). 

How that other time we wanted to see what would happen if we held lotioned Kleenex over a lit flame and watched them all quickly flare up. Then it got too close to your hand and you waved the Kleenex and caught Izzy, the cats, whiskers on fire. {pyros}

I would drive us to school and you liked to get there early and I wanted to get there right as the bell rang, so we would leave early then I'd drive 20 mph the whole way there :)

When we played Barbies as kids you always chewed their hands and feet flat, and if you could get your hands on some scissors, you'd cut their hair. You got your payback though when Brady flushed your new Barbie down the toilet and you screamed bloody murder. 

At night I would put my hand into the air declaring, "it's comfortable" just because it made you so angry and you'd slap it down, only for me to put it up again. Then before bed every night we always said, "Goodnight, sweet dreams, I love you". And sometimes I'd talk you into scratching my back and then pretend to fall asleep so I could skip out on my turn scratching yours. (So, ya, I owe you a few ;)

Now that we are adults, you are one of my most favorite people. It's like we turned twenty-something and all of a sudden we became civil, loving, and best friends. 

Now when my child has a minor head injury you're the first person I text. 

When I nurse in the middle of the night I check Instagram and FB to see if you maybe liked something recently so we can text. 

Now we FaceTime all the time and get mad when the other doesn't answer. 

I know your morning routine after you've worked a night shift even though I've never actually seen you in the morning after you've worked a night shift [drive home, walk Zoey, poop, eat, surf on the web, read until you fall asleep]. 

I also know that when you ignore a phone call at 8:12ish that you are pooping and for whatever wierd reason, you won't talk on the phone and poop at the same time. Also, you hate talking on the phone but make an exception for me!

I can tell when your voice cracks how you want to cry. I also know when your do your silly square smile that you are super happy. 

I know when not to bring up stuff, like when you're just done and don't want to talk. 

I get really angry at myself for wasting our "Austin days", the time in our life we both lived in Austin at the same time, and for not hanging out more. 

Now I think it's time to go over some of your most common nicknames and their origins:

STEPHTRON: a combination of Stephanie and a robot word that I made up. 

STEPHANO: like the bad guy, Stefano, on Days of our Lives. You used to HATE when I called you this as kids, but now you don't mind ;)

STEP STEP: the name Charley gave you when she was teeny tiny because she couldn't say Stephanie :)

STEPHO: another form of Stephanie, Joseph most commonly used this nickname. In fact, your contact in his phone says Stepho. 

STEPHANIE ANN MINEFEE: the name I drunkenly gave you on your bachelorette party night...which was epic! 

SISTERELLA: a combination of sister. And cinderella. Duh. 

Step Step, you are effortlessly beautiful and so full of life. I've always thought of you as "mine", like my own little sister kid, who I sometimes wanted to take as my own to raise and protect you from this cruel world. You've grown into such a lovely soul and I couldn't think of a better seester or best friend or aunt to my girlies. I wish that we lived closer, and dammit, I'm trying to invent a teleporter so we can live far away yet still hang out every day. Even though we were turdlings as kids, I'm glad we have become close as adults and have overcome the need to pull out knives and such ;) You are the glaze to my donut, the load of creamer to my coffee, and I wouldn't want to imagine this life without you in it. You seriously are one of those people that make the world a better place just by being you. Have you ever seen yourself smile? Go look. It makes the room exhale and just relax and it says, "guys, be happy!" 

If my girls can be as good of friends and sisters as we are, then I'll be a happy momma! (And maybe a bit more cordial as kidlings as we were too!)

I miss you like crazy. Let's plan a seester getaway soon. Please and thank you. 

Goodnight, sweet dreams, I love you!!