On May 26, 2012

Deanna.

What do you think of when you read that? How would you describe her?

Quiet? Opinionated? Serious?

I wonder if many would think that.

And to some extent, some of them are true.

But that's not what I would think of first.

Serious? Are you kidding?

Yesterday she asked me if I was going to write her a blog post for her birthday. I hadn't thought of it, but decided to try.

Also yesterday, Deanna was telling stories, making fun of a post I was working on. She had put two stupid-looking pigtails which were uneven in my hair. They weren't twin, she said, so they were a "fraternal situation."

Her explanation of a fraternal twin situation: “Kind of like if you had popcorn on your butt and I had wood cravings. A twin situation would be if we both had wood cravings.”

Of course, she meant wood shavings. She was being so weird that Melody was recording her. When she found out, she said:

“Hello, world. I didn’t get enough sleep last night."

Apparently. Apparently it happens often, for there are many such scenes I could relate. I'm sorry if you don't get it. You must have seen Deanna in such a mood to appreciate it.

In celebration of Deanna's 21st birthday today, I shall list 21 things about her.

21. Some people say Deanna doesn't like a lot of things. This is true, but it isn't so much that she doesn't like things, but that she likes disliking them. This doesn't always make sense to me, but it makes things interesting. Like when she said, regarding the cat that thinks it's ours:

"I don't know why that cat doesn't realize how much I hate it."

20. She likes Michael Buble, Ramine Karimloo, and Michael Ball.

19. She likes dancing. Yes, she was bought the first time, but she has gone contra dancing voluntarily since then.

18. "Neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow..." shall keep the mailman from his rounds, or Deanna from her daily trek to the mailbox. Since before we had to have one of us stand at the doorway if Mom was gone while she did it, she has been the one to get the mail. Even if she's not home, we'll sometimes leave it for her to get.

17. We do the three-year-old class, and Deanna is the competent teacher.

16. Deanna is stylish. Sometimes on Sundays, Eric will come out with shirt and tie. "Where's Deanna?" he'll ask. "I want to ask her if this matches. What do you think?"

"Looks fine to me," I say, "but ask Deanna."

Upon sight of it, Deanna gasps in horror. "No! That looks awful. It doesn't match!"

15. She likes euchre, and she's pretty good at it.

14. She loves to swing. Once she swang for three hours straight.

13. She likes to do hair, but...

...she hates to have her hair done.


12. She always thought her initials, DLB, were the coolest initials ever. They're also on about every third lisence plate you see.

10. When we redid the living room, she rolled a section of our wall! We had to get photographic evidence of this. She will be happy I didn't put up a picture that showed her pajama pants.

9. She loves to go on walks.

8. She loves musicals, and she wants the soundtrack to every one we go to.



 7. She likes lotions, and they have to smell good.

6. Deanna's purpose in life is to keep us amused. She does this pretty well.

5. She will not be happy with me for posting some of this.

4. On her 18th birthday, we stayed up until her birth, which is at 1:48. We did it again this year.

3. She has a wonderful sister who made her a cake. Her cake is not beautiful, but...

2. She likes lemon things, and it is completely lemon, so it's all good.

1. I must say, I have the best older sister in the world! What would life be without her to spice things up? Happy birthday, Deanna. (You can go drink now!) I love you.