Missing my sis

I really miss sister Anne and my nephew. All of the hullabaloo with Owen overshadowed the amazing circumstances under which Drew was born. A little back story to catch everyone up. Anne and I had a ...let's say "on and off" relationship when we were younger. We loved each other but we were essentially bratty sisters who picked at each other all the time. As we grew up and moved on to high school we became closer and closer. By the time were young adults we were absolute best friends. Anne can make me laugh harder than anyone and we are together, we have our own world going on (it can be kind of annoying). The only problem that we have is that we never seem to be in the same place at the same time. Because either Anne or I was in college, we have never had a significant amount of time together. The consolation was that we were never more than a few hours apart. A few years ago however, Anne moved to Florida due to the lack of teaching jobs in Michigan. What a blow for me! It was hard to watch Anne begin to build life for herself in another state. She had a great job, a wonderful boyfriend and an amazing new group of friends. She was aquiring everything I hoped she would have, but at the same time these things were cementing her life in Flordia. Flash forward to June 18th 2006. I had just found out I was pregnant a week earlier and had flown to tell Anne in person. When she picked me up from the airport, Anne told me she was a week late and thought she may be pregnant too. We went from the airport to the drugstore, came home and took a preganancy test (yes, I did too just to make sure I was still pregnant!). I will never ever forget the look on Anne's face when she walked out of the bathroom. It was a mixture of panic, hysteria and shock. We both sobbed and called our parents. My parents were unfailingly supportive as they have been our entire lives. So 9 months later, Anne and I are both very pregant and living in different states. Anne and her boyfriend Steve were living together and preparing for Andrew James "Drew". She managed to find surrogate family in her two best friends (and fellow mothers) Ellen and Stacy. Stacy was also pregnant and due in February. It wasn't easy however for Anne to be away from her family. I think the lowest point for Anne was when she received the news that Owen would not make it. Because she was so close to her due date, Anne could not fly to be with me. She was devestated on 2 counts. Not only was she going to lose her nephew, but she couldn't be with us to grieve. Luckily everthing worked out and 6 days after Owen was born, Anne went into labor. Anne's first experience with childbirth - not so great. I won't go into the gory details but let me just say - my mother called me after the birth and she sounded like she had been through a war. She had nightmares about it!! It was pretty bad. Now my sister is happier than she has ever been, engaged to be married to Drew's father and the love of her life (they are the same person in case that wasn't clear)and has one of the two most wonderful babies in the entire world. Through all the uncertainty there was never a consideration that this baby would not be brought in to the family. The strength of character it took for Anne to, not only overcome the bumps in the road but to not even see them as problems in the first place, is something that I could never do.I miss her and my amazing nephew everyday and wish that Owen and his cousin could grow up as close as their moms were. I am however, so proud of my little sister for being the extrordinary woman she is. I love you Annie Banannnie!