happy GOLDEN birthday, emily!!!

Yesterday was my sister’s Golden Birthday. And yes, before you point out the obvious, I am a day late in writing this post. But that’s ok, Emily won’t mind; sadly she is used to my always-arriving-late spurts of creativity, ‘genius-ness’, and acts of thoughtfulness. Why do we put deadlines on these things?! Anyways, it’s still February, her Birthday Month, and this post, or celebratory letter if you will, is--in my own way--on time.


Emily and I are three years apart. From the time we were little we have gotten along fairly well, as good as sisters can get along I suppose. I don’t know why or how this is but I am glad we have always played well together. Our other friends noticed it even when we were little. As we’ve gotten older, I’ve had several friends say to me that they wished they had gotten along with their sister(s) as well as Emily and I did when we were little.

I have been very blessed to have her as my sister.

We enjoy doing a lot of things together. Said activities include singing Glee songs off-key, traveling, shopping, laying out, laughing, eating, and so, so much more.


Very recently, Emily and I had been driving for a while and were kind of in dumpy moods. Knowing that we were about to be with a group of people we decided we needed a quick pick-me-up. What do the Kiel sisters do in our time of crabbiness? We turn to our handy-dandy Glee Soundtrack Collection! We chose Volume 4 and proceed to sing song in a genre that we picked before each new track. ‘Lucky’ became a twangy rendition that would make George Strait proud and ‘One Love’ a rap bit. We were laughing so hard before we even made it to the opposite of ‘Teenage Dream’!

We can laugh ourselves into stitches without EVER SAYING A WORD and we know what the other is talking about.

Our love for traveling and experiencing new things started at a very young age. We made a lot of road trips when we were little. Here we are, in all our beautiful glory, traveling to where I can only assume is our Grandparents’.


We have had some memorable trips together. One summer we went to the beach; it rained the entire time! We were so bummed! But that didn’t stop us from having fun: we put on our bathing suits, went to the local Wal-Mart where we bought a DVD player and some movies, picked up some Papa John’s and had a picnic in our hotel room floor. The remainder of the time we split between reading books while lounging on the hotel’s patios and sleeping (in our bathing suits, of course!).

While in Canada we thought about taking up figure skating but decided against it when we got into an argument over who would be on the throwing side of the “Iron Lotus”...


In Scotland we trudged through a field of sheep poop to find this darling abandoned castle…


We Whooped on the steps of a Parthenon-Wanna-Be…


And frolicked in a graffiti covered storehouse…


We always have the best of times together!

This doesn’t mean we haven’t had our fair share of arguments, disagreements, and fights. We have hurt each other with our words. We have hurt each other with our actions. While most are unintentional, some are very intentional. But through these times of hurt and major dislike we have grown to know each other more as well as how to treat those around us. Do you have that kind of relationship? One that, no matter what you do or say, will always be there, never leaving you?

I am so thankful that I have this in my sister.

We had the Mother of all Fights a few years ago. It WAS NOT pretty. It doesn’t matter what the fight was about, it has been forgiven. What is important was how we handled the situation; I was so proud! It was the first time that instead of racing to call Mom to get her on our side first we solved it on our own. It got ugly for a hot minute but by the end of the day we had talked through our problem rationally, forgiven and forgotten (and vowed never to do it again!) and pulled ourselves together for a family dinner and photo shoot.


I am thankful for a sister that I can be myself around. If she doesn’t like something that I’m doing, or how I’m behaving, she tells me. Sometimes she doesn’t even have to verbalize it because her face tells me all I need to know.
I hope we are always close.


We have shared a lot of things: memories, bathrooms, initials, etc.

Together we have………

...‘Sawed ‘em off’ on Inismore Island

...fought over the color pink

...taken 1 college class together

...spent a night in the ½-bath floor


...consumed 840 meals at Blue Baker

...justified the need for hash browns

...napped in the Eel Garden at Dublin Castle

...shown up to play piano & keyboards at church dressed in the exact same dress

...performed countless plays and ‘productions’ in our living room

...planned our future weddings 137 times

...worked out so hard we couldn’t walk for 6 days

...climbed, ahem, ridden to the top of the Eiffel Tower


I don’t know if it has been used or not, but I would like to coin a new term for sisters who are best friends: Sistership. Original , I know; I bet I just shocked the pants off of you :) Below is a list I have put together of what Sistership is to me:

Sistership is telling the other that her breathe stinks and offering a piece of gum.

Sistership is being happy for the other’s triumphs and joys when you can’t seem to set your world straight.

Sistership is sticking up for the other one when your ‘friends’ say unkind things.

Sistership is telling the other when the top that you love and have worn to death needs to go.


Sistership is helping you finish off ALL of your brother’s birthday dessert so that you don’t look like a pig by yourself.


Sistership is telling the other one when you need to stop what you’re doing and just go to bed.

Sistership is staying up till 4:00 a.m. making flip-flops and tie-dying t-shirts to help keep promises and commitments.

Sistership is laughing with you when you read a sign that says ‘To Lease’, and, without saying a word to each other, both think about the time you screamed, ‘Two Luck,’ when you actually meant ‘Two on the left that look just alike.’

Sistership is bringing the other coffee and cookies at 2:00 a.m. when you’ve been up for 24 hours.

Sistership is so many wonderful things.


I am so thankful for mine! HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY, EMILY!!!!! I love you so much and look forward to our next adventure together (and I promise it won't be another round-trip-Ellen-forgot-her-wallet-at-the-house-that-we-are-now-56-minutes-away-from!)!!!