totallyMERRI honor photo book - Suzanne

What can I say, I lucked out in the sister department.
Suzanne is my younger sister and has always been my
playmate, my confidant, my defender, my cheerleader. I
love our daily phone calls, especially the ones where we
are both working away on our own separate projects with
the speaker phone on and not saying a word to each other
for long stretches of time, just pretending and wishing that
we were working in the same room together. My favorite
thing to do with Suzanne is laugh, like the time we played
Jack Clap, Queen Slap, King Touch Your Nose, Ace Meow at
midnight while our husbands were trying to sleep. Despite
their moans and groans, we kept on playing and laughing
and laughing til the wee hours of the morning. A laugh
is never as pure or as deep as when done with Suzanne!
I also love how dangerous it is to bring Suzanne and me
into a solemn event and have us sit next to each other....
guaranteed at some point we will revert to our ten year old
selves and find something humorous. The more we sense
that the other is suppressing a laugh the more we each
have to laugh.
Suzanne is the busiest woman I know yet she will
always, always make the time to help me out and
especially to help her nephews out. Being available
for family is absolutely a top priority for her...no
matter what, no convincing her otherwise...family
first...end of story. You can count on her, she will
defend you like no other. She has always been like
that. I remember when we were teens and I was in
trouble with my parents. She defended me to the
point that she drove our parents so totally crazy that
they forgot that they were ever angry with me. A
sign of her future in the legal profession.
Suzanne and I were always great friends. When we
were younger I would often use my older sister status
to dictate what games we should play. Whether
that would be marching around the neighborhood
with signs we made to advertise our latest event or
allowing me to be president of our current club, she
never complained and happily did as I asked. I don’t
throw around my older sister status any longer but I
do know that I can still count on Suzanne to happily
join in on any shenanigans I come up with.
My birthday wish for Suzanne is that she have the
time to play all that she wants to...especially with me!
— Love ya so very much, Merri