The Family You Choose

I feel like saying "sorry I've been away", but I think you are all used to me being a crappy, infrequent blogger. I've enjoyed posting more frequently lately, though, so I feel like I really have been away.

Here's why:



Stevie, my "little sister" from Calgary, was visiting.



We had a fantastic week, though we failed to get photos of most of the things we did. We had a lot of fun, and she got to meet many of my Vancouver friends.

Do not fail to see this incredibly cute photo of her, taken by Travis as Stevie spent some quality time with the water. To say "Stevie loves the ocean" would be a bit of an understatement.

She even got me to into the water (the bottom few inches of me, anyways), such is the persuasive force of her will.



To say "I miss Stevie" would be another understatement. I don't say this often about people I'm not related to by blood or marriage (because I am a dreadful literalist), but she is family.



We've been "sisters" since she was 9, and she's 14 now. One of the things I most regret about leaving Calgary, is that I'm not able to be there for Stevie as consistently as I'd like to be, especially at such an... eventful time of her life.

After she left us at the airport, Zak reminded me of a time after Stevie and I had started hanging out, when I had said to him, "I wonder if Stevie will still be interested in being my friend when she gets a little older." I really didn't expect that we'd develop the kind of relationship that we have, and I'm very grateful for it.

I just wish she wasn't so far away.