Sarah Jackson: Thursday Things: a Month of Sisters

This has been a good month. The best month of the year. It's not because the students in my evening class make me laugh until my stomach hurts, or because I finally made a successful batch of gluten, sugar, and dairy-free muffins And it's not because the breeze daily reminds me that the jasmine is in bloom, or because our blood orange crop abounds.

It's because this month was a month of sisters, and I've never been able to say that before. Sisters. As in, more than one.

On April 14th, 2012 there will officially be more Jackson women than men.

My little brother is gettin' hitched.

Aaron is marrying a lovely woman named Natasha. Aaron and Natasha met at Biola University. You can read more of their story here.

Natasha is thoughtful, kind, disciplined and gorgeous, and we are excited to welcome her into our family.

For the last year Natasha has been living in Canada where she is training for the 2016 Olympics. She is a track and field heptathlete. This basically means she is Superwoman. She does the 100 meter hurdles, 200 meter sprint, 800 meter run, javelin throw, shot put, high jump, and long jump. Amazingly, Aaron keeps up with her. Their kids will have the agility of a gazelle and the speed of a cheetah.

A few weeks ago Natasha came for a visit. I got to hog her all to myself, and I loved it.

We chatted and sipped tea on my patio, and ate the successful gluten, sugar and dairy-free muffins I made.

I also got to attend a bridal shower for her, hosted by some of her old roommates. It was a fun day full of yummy treats, lots of laughing, and, of course, toilet paper. No bridal shower is complete without at least 217 rolls of toilet paper.

A week after Natasha left, my little sister, Rebecca, came for a visit.

Rebecca is hilarious, beautiful, insightful, wise, and creative and I love her.

For months I have been texting Rebecca pictures of me sitting on my patio in the sun, sipping freshly squeezed orange juice. It was a subtle campaign to get her to visit. It worked.

Here we are sitting on my patio in the sun, sipping fresh orange juice.

We only left my patio three times the entire time Rebecca was here.

It was glorious. We both relished the time to rest, get caught up, and laugh together the way only sisters can.

Our patio time was the highlight for me.

We also had a few fun outings.

First, we went to my good friend, J's, house for dinner and a movie with friends.

We all enjoyed sitting out by the fire and talking about swing dancing and high-waisted pants. We like to discuss life's deepest, most complex issues while sitting around the fire.

From left to right: J, Me, Rebecca

Do you see J's feet tattoos? When J puts his feet together they make a Christian fish.

Here J is cooking some sort of amazing Italian pasta dish to go with the caprese salad he made. He cooks scrumptious food like this often. He gives hope to women everywhere.

The next day Rebecca and I went paddleboarding with our cousin, K, and her husband, M. We battled fierce winds, and narrowly escaped a shark (turns out the guy we passed was shouting "Mark!"). By the time we explored the bay and returned to shore we were feeling pooped but victorious.

We spent the rest of the day watching a beach volleyball game. M and his buddies played, and we gals cheered.

The windy beach was deserted so we had it to ourselves

The crew, during a break from the game

It was a dangerous affair. Mostly because there were 7 million seagulls flying over our heads at any given point.

Somehow we escaped unsoiled.

K is our cousin on our dad's side. She is gorgeous, funny, hospitable, and gracious and I love her very much.

Rebecca and I were both sad to say goodbye to her and her wonderful husband.

And now we've arrived at the part of the post I always hate, because this is when Rebecca hops on an airplane and flies home. So I'll just skip this part, and end with this instead:

Guess what's in this box?!