Day 4 & 5-Your Parents and Siblings

Well I got slack busy yesterday and missed day 4, so we'll combine days 4 and 5 together.  Luckily they go together pretty well.

So first things first...Pat and Denise--where oh where do I begin?

My parents met when my mom was 16 and my dad was 22 and they were going with a group of friends to a bar.  You had to be 18 to get in, and my mom looked not a day over 14 at the time so she couldn't get in, so my dad sat outside with her all night while their friends clearly kept having a good time.  Because of the scandalous age difference my parents didn't start dating until my mom was 18 and my dad was (according to my grandparents) still 22.  After they dated about 6 months, my dad broke up with my mom because he still liked an ex-girlfriend.  After a year, my dad apparently came back wanting to date my mom at the homecoming dance and she gave him another chance.  They got married when she was 21 and they had admitted that he was actually 27.   This April, my parents will celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary.

My parents went on to have 2 daughters and 200 cows.  I say that half jokingly, but my parents are such a great example of teamwork and while they certainly wouldn't have me or my sister without each other, they definitely wouldn't have the cows without each other either.  Yes, they have their ups and downs, but neither would be where they are without the other one.  My mother worked at a very stressful job that she loved the first 12 years they were married in order for my father to get his farm up and financially stable.  Now, my mom stays at home helping my dad with the office operations of the farm, and allowing my dad to live his dream to his fullest, even if that means he works 16 hours a day.  If nothing else, they have both taught me how important it is both for yourself and when you commit to a marriage, for your spouse, to follow your dreams and desires to their fullest potential.  They are both full of flaws, but they are the perfect balance of each other and prove that opposites attract.
 

This picture was taken my last year of college over 3 years ago, and it's one of my favorites of us.

Now, onto my sister.

This is obviously not her now, but it's how I remember her growing up.  This is her now:

She's a pretty cool person, if I do say so myself.  When my mom was pregnant with her, and she didn't know if she was going to have a boy or girl, I remember praying that I would end up with a baby sister, because I needed someone to play with!  We have so many wonderful memories together, mainly of creating our own fun with made-up games.  We would (and still do) fight like cats and dogs, but we are also over a fight faster than you can blink.  Most people say we look very much alike, but we both think we look completely different.  I have my dad's personality, she has my mom's.  The best part is, the older we get, the closer we get, and the more and more she becomes my best friend by choice, not just by blood.