~*~ K ~*~

I'm an only child, so the concept of sister is somewhat foreign to me. It probably works out to everyone's benefit, because I'm not sure, if I had sisters of my own, that I would be as close with my sister-in-law.

K and I really aren't that far apart in age. I'm one year, six months and eighteen days older. I feel protective of her - there's very little that I wouldn't do for her. It's not that she needs me, mind you. She's already older than I was when I married her brother, and if she were kicked out on her own today, she would be far better off than I was. She's wise and wicked awesome. She's five or six inches shorter than me, but if I need a butt kicked - she's the one I call.

But still - marriage is a big, huge deal, and a strange transition even under the best of circumstances. Anyone who has been there knows that there's the stuff you can plan for, and the stuff you can't, in a million years. I'm by no means claiming that I have it all together (we all know I don't), or that I have the perfect marriage (pfffft), or that I even have anything very valuable to pass on (well, *I* wouldn't listen to me, would you?). But no matter what, I want to see that she and J are taken care of to the best of my ability - whatever that is.

I'm glad that I'm here right now and that I'm able to be of SOME use to her. I don't flatter myself that she should be crippled without my presence (see above: she kicks ass) but I like to think that I'm helping her. To be honest, her mom is a good person, but she's not there for her daughter. I can't blame her entirely, I think it's a result of the bipolar disorder she refuses to treat. But there are just some things that her being absent is depriving K of. So I think to some degree, I get to play the roles of sister, mother and friend. Whatever I do, I consider it a great honor - I really do. I love K, and I really just want the best for her, whatever that is and wherever she goes.

I just wanted to say that.