Happy Birthday, Court!

 A special shout out to my older sister, Courtney, since today's her birthday. I'm not sure, but she may be getting to the point where she doesn't want her age to be mentioned so I won't tell you how old she's turning. Just like in this post about my younger sister's birthday, I'm late in getting Court's birthday gift to her. But I decided to at least post on the right day, so that counts for something. I'm getting better!

There's a four year difference between myself and Courtney. The way I see it, there's both positives and negatives to being four years apart. First, the negative (to get it outta the way). Courtney and I didn't go through the same experiences and phases in life at the same time. She hit high school while I was still finishing up elementary; she started college when I started high school. Instead of going through the rough spots (aka high school) together, she provided the advice while I did my best to figure it out on my own. We also didn't have too many friends in common because of that age gap.

Christmas 2007; Sarah's idea for the pose

Onto the positives of being four years apart. The advice helped get me through awkward years in middle school and high school (and college, to be honest). Her friends became more big sisters to me.  She was my most influential role model for fashion, decorating my room, music, movies, etc. I watched how she conducted herself in various settings and tried to be as cool and mature as she was. 

summer 2009

Through observation, I learned what to do and how to act in different situations but maybe more importantly, I learned what not to do too. :) Sarah and I have talked about how we stayed out of trouble with Mom and Dad thanks to Courtney paving the way for us. Perhaps the biggest lesson we learned was fairly simple: Don't roll your eyes when Mom or Dad is talking. The eye roll was our favorite way to show some attitude until we saw the aftereffects of it. 

Courtney using my face as leverage to anchor my veil :)

Unfortunately, that's part of the curse of being the oldest child. You get in trouble while your younger siblings get to watch and learn from your mistakes. But she handled being the oldest with a grace that I know Sarah and I still attempt to mimic. Courtney continues to be an influence in my life and I'm grateful to have her in my life. Happy birthday, Court! Your present's on its way.