Last week, I started a post about my sister and how awesome she is. I got a couple of paragraphs in, but I just never got around to finishing it. This was before they moved in to the new house...before her plumbing nightmare...and definitely before her most recent blog post (at shaunnafaye.blogspot.com). Then, after reading said blog post this morning, I am all the more compelled to come back and finish saying what I started about how smart she is and how proud of her I am.

I am only three and a half years older than she is, so when we were kids, there wasn't much looking back, reflecting, and noticing her coming of age. However, when we were young adults...when she was 17-18, and I was 20-21, I was more in a position to actually observe the process of her growing up.

There was the period she referred to in her blog...where she dated a guy who was a manipulative a-hole. We all liked him at first, and it was actually Brent (and maybe myself) that pushed them toward each other. We realized soon enough, however, that this guy was no good. We talked to Shaunna and tried to convince her, but by that point it was almost too late. She didn't want to hear what we were saying, and he had her convinced that it was the two of them against the world. That situation was actually the inspiration of one of the cheesiest, but most heartfelt Anthem songs, April 7th. It was about "a girl", who on her 18th birthday ran off with her boyfriend, leaving her family behind.

The story has a happy ending, however. Since that period, she grew in leaps and bounds (again, this is from my observation standpoint). Not that I am, nor should I be, the end-all, be-all decider in all things Shaunna, but from a big-brother position, I have approved of every person she has dated since then. Each of those people have been a step along the way to where she is now. And where she is now...is a good place. She and her husband have found each other. They fell in love and got married. They bought a house. They are now living the dream. For better or for worse (and I'm pretty sure they've had a bunch of both), they stand by each other's side.

Last weekend, during the move, it seriously almost brought a tear to my eye knowing that this isn't just one of the Shaunna Dorris "twice-yearly" changes in residences. This one was big. It was more important. This was Shaunna Turner starting her first household. This was Chris and Shaunna Turner and their first home.

For this stuff, I am left with nothing but admiration and love for my sister (and by brother-in-law). They're doing it. They're grows up.

And between you and me...they're both cool as crap.