Sabrina! That's Daaaaangerous!

When I was almost 2 years old, I was blessed with what would be the greatest gift and sometimes the biggest pain in my life. September 24, 1992 my baby sister Sabrina was born. Growing up I remember my daddy sitting me down and saying things like "Arianne, you need to be a good example for your little sister now - you need to take care of her." I took on the job title of "big sister" the moment I found out I was going to have a little sister.

We had our moments of pulling each other's hair out (as all sisters do) but we have also had the most amazing moments as well. She is my best friend & I love her so much. She is my rock most days, and my reason for pulling through. The other day after I got the phone call that asked me to kill myself, we were on our way out to the cemetery to place flowers on our daddy's grave. We both sat in silence as we stared at daddy's headstone and hid our tears behind our sunglasses. She finally took my hand and said "You won't do it...will you?" I burst into more tears and told her proudly "I have more to live for, and I will not let them win my life from me, it is mine." She smiled and said "You always were a fighter, you got that from daddy."

We laughed together and remeniced on things daddy would say or do, for example I can always remember calling him and crying about some boy and without fail he would always tell me the same thing: "You go tell that boy that your daddy is not afraid to go back to jail for him!" I would laugh through the tears and say "daddy, you have never been to jail," and he would say "he doesn't know that!"

One thing I remember daddy telling me about that always makes me smile is a particular road trip we were taking as a family when we were very little. Brina has always been the "monkey" of the family and climbed on anything and everything she could find. One day we were driving down the road (I think to the Grand Canyon) with mom and daddy when little miss Brina found a way out of her carseat and kept climbing onto my carseat. Daddy remembered it very well that I would yell "Sabrina! Sit down! That's daaaaaangerous!!" Of course, she had already plopped down in her seat again so when mom and dad turned around I looked like the crazy one! She would flash a quick smile and me then do it again as soon as they turned around again.

I am still very proud of my title of "big sister" and she & my other sisters and brother give me reason enough to pull through the hard times in my life. I love them all very much and I'm so blessed to have the family I do.