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Jessica has been my guardian ever since I came home from the hospital. When I was little, I was always trying to put myself through things—get my legs through the bannisters at the top of the stairs, or my arms through the backs of the dining room chairs or I used to just want to sit in this blue flower pot in our living room. I think maybe I used to think I was Elasta-Girl from that movie, The Incredibles. And I always thought I was going to make it through to the other side, but to my amazement, sometimes I would get stuck. If it had been a particularly busy week in fighting supervillains in the house, sometimes once a day. My mom is laughing because it’s not an exaggeration. And I would cry and cry for help because surely my life was in danger, but it wasn’t mom and it wasn’t dad who I trusted enough with this rescue mission—it was Jess. I am happy to report that each time she was able to rescue me, albeit with some help probably from mom and dad, and that eventually I moved on from this Elasta-Girl fantasy. Jessica would probably say she is unhappy to report that that would only be the beginning of her watching over me to make sure I didn’t do anything too stupid.
We spent 19 years living together and in that time, she has gotten me out of a lot of metaphorical and adult-sized blue flowerpots. And I think from that first time she got me unstuck, I’ve always thought she was pretty cool. Jess is someone I have always looked up to. She is warm, playful, sensitive, beautiful, hilarious, creative, and if you meet her, as you all know, you’ll fall in love with her in about 60 seconds flat. And I have to say…that growing up that didn’t go unnoticed! So throughout her dating life, because I was kind of a dork and had far too few hobbies, I was there with a notebook and a pen and I would kind of—Jess I don’t think I ever told you this ever—I would sort of log who she was dating and what I thought of them. I think there was a point system involved but I’m not sure! I don’t have that book anymore, so I can’t tell you about all of my entries in there, but I do remember some of what I wrote about Gabe.
Good hair. Taller than Jess—check. Likes my mom’s cooking. Played beanie babies with me. Russian. First impressions: positive.
So I was 12 at the time, just to set the record straight. I do not play with Beanie Babies anymore and I definitely know now that Romania is a country.
But if I were to write that list today, I’d have a lot more things to say about Gabe: supportive, smart, sarcastic, enthusiastic, loyal, honest, determined, but most importantly, makes my sister so incredibly stupid happy. When the two of them are together, there are sparks. They laugh. A lot. And they poke fun at each other all the time. They challenge each other. And throughout the ten plus years that they have been together, they have grown to be better for each other every day. Even through the most angsty of teenage years. They have a house, they have a dog, rather a bear, I already feel like they have won the dating Olympics, and I am very sure they are going to bring the gold home in Marriage too.
On a serious note people ask me a lot when I say my sister is getting married, I get asked this all the time, “Do you like the guy she’s with?” and I can’t help but smile because I really really do. And little do those people know that because you’ve been with Jessica for ten years, I’ve grown up with you, and you are already my brother.
Congratulations. To Jess & Gabe!
