"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.”
– Marion C. Garretty
My little sister Vanessa is FORTY! Boy, does this make me feel old :)
We are pretty different people--she a bit more fun-loving and social, and I the more serious introvert (our parents like to tell us that, while they played Mozart to me in the crib, Vanessa listened to The Beatles and Rock and Roll, which may explain a lot :)). While I am a mom of two and practice medicine in small-town America, she joined the Foreign Service and has traveled to and lived in really exotic places, including Ecuador, Tanzania, and now Senegal in west Africa.
We were highly competitive and fought a lot as kids; however, time, maturity, and distance have made us truly love and understand one another. We both enjoy reading, appreciate music, have a passion for traveling, and adore spending time with family. Our unique experiences growing up, from a fairly nomadic upbringing jet-setting with nuclear family, balanced with spending long summers at the Arness Farm in Minnesota, can only be understood and shared by a sibling.
“Sisters are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring—quite often the hard way.” – Pamela Dugdale
My mom sent me a bunch of pictures from our growing-up years, so you can see the four decades of our growth as girls to professional women which was a special walk down memory lane.
Newborn stage, The Arness Farm in Minnesota
Frilly dresses were a thing (thanks, Grandma Georgine!)
with our maternal Grandparents (Helen/Vish), Chennai, India 1986
Paternal Grandparents (Georgine, Alton, ~1987)
(more frilly dresses!)
\Toccata the dog joins the family (~1990)
Nepal, ~1994
Rajasthan, India 1994
Sydney, Australia, 1994
New Zealand (my first glacier walk!), 1994
Nepal, ~1995
Fisher, Minnesota, Summer 1995
Miss this farm!
Snowmageddon, McLean, VA 1996
Grand Canyon, 1997
Hallcrest Home
MHS Tennis 1998!
Duncan the dog!
The Parthenon, Greece, 2001
Turkey, 2001
Denmark, 2002
V Graduates HS (2002)
Egypt, 2005
Chichen Itza, Mexico, 2006
Crookston MN
Portugal
Vanessa's Graduation from Washington & Lee University, 2006
My Mayo Medical School graduation, 2007
My wedding, 2011
Maid of Honor
We and Iver visit Ecuador, 2015
Panama, 2016
Surfing Goat Dairy, Maui, 2016
Grandma Georgine's Celebration of Life, 2018
V visits Humboldt County, 2019
Virginia, Jan 2020
Jamaica, 2022
Dunn River Falls
Aunties make the best pillows :)
El Salvador, 2023
Volcan Santa Ana
“Sisters are different flowers from the same garden.” -Maya Angelou
Here's to more decades of joy and adventure. Welcome to middle age, little sis!. Happy birthday, and hope to see you soon!!
