to my older sisters:

I apologize.

I am sorry.

For all those times that I sneaked in and took clothes out of your closet;

for all the times I pilfered your jewelry after you left for school;

for sneakily going through all your cool knick-knacks and momentos;

for rifling through your stuff when you were gone;

for swiping cool possessions I hoped you'd never miss;

for copying your sayings and gestures;

for butting in on you and your friends;

for wanting in on everything you did;

I'm sorry.

I watch Lacie do all this (and more) to Andrea and I think back about all the "little sister" stuff that I did over the years. Wow, it was a lot. And it had to have been more than obnoxious. I know it drives Andrea crazy. Shoot, it drives ME crazy just trying to police all the stolen goods. But I notice something when I see this -- something I didn't quite explain very well to you when we were kids. All those times, all those things, everything I did was because I was trying to be like you. You were my big sisters. You were cool. And though I'm sure it probably drove you as mad as it is now driving Andrea, I'd like to say the same thing to you that I now tell her -- it's only because she is (I was) trying to be like you.

Take it as a compliment.

And hopefully that will mean more to you than it does to Andrea.