Autumn's Beginning

WINTER IS AN ETCHING,

SPRING A WATERCOLOR, SUMMER AN OIL PAINTING,

AND AUTUMN A MOSAIC OF THEM ALL

~Stanley Horowitz

Yesterday was the first day of fall and today my sister's birthday. I always associate the two together. She actually was born on the first day of fall back in 1980 and came close to being named Autumn which I always found kind of fascinating, knowing a name you were once almost called the rest of your life.

We have always been close. Always. She is the kind of person that when I am with her, I feel more confident in myself just by her presence. She is my person. My best friend. My phone call after work to vent after a hard day, my fashionista guide through the styles of life, my spiritual role model, and the most beautiful person inside and out that I will ever know. She is the oldest of 5 siblings and a leader in every capacity. And although I have 3 sisters, she is my only big sis, for I fall in place right next to her and have stayed close by ever since.

I see her at least one or twice a week and last week on this particular visit to her home in Spartanburg we were both in crabby moods, kinda fussing at each other and short with each other after the long work day. We decided to play this game to get us in better moods and went back and forth saying reasons we love the other person. We have never done that and it was an interesting insight into how she sees me and vice versa. Here is only a couple I came up with:

• I love how driven and goal oriented she is. She is an English high school teacher and while she's been teaching shes gotten one masters and is working on her second one currently. She then is getting her doctorate which is her educational goal. She also has a list of life goals she keeps on her refrigerator door.


• She loves her students. She goes to most of her student's sporting events after school and was even the stat keeper of the basketball team for a couple years. She currently is in charge of the teachers' "Stan Fan Club" where they cheer on their students. She takes her kids to Europe in the summer to show them in person what they've been studying all year. She always is one of the first teachers to get to school in the morning because she is the best. She wants to be the best. And its because she really loves her students and wants them to succeed.


• She is very wise, she is able to read a person and analyse their personality. She gets that from my dad.


• She has great hair! She can wear it curly or straight and can have many blond highlights or wear it severely dark and it always looks great.


• She likes to be the center ofattention. But not in an annoying way. It comes naturally that she usually is the center and she can handle it. People are drawn to her because she is a natural leader and communicator. I get nervous when I have to be the center and its easy for me not be when she is there.