WARNING: this post is 100% completely and totally personal and even a tad bit sappy :)

So, have you ever been driving down the road and hear a song that reminds you of a great time in your life?  Yesterday I was running errands like a mad woman before our anniversary trip this weekend to San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma (can I get a woohoo!?!) and I heard a song that I have not heard in years, no more like ages...."I'm gonna be (500 miles)," by The Proclaimers.  Why, you may ask, is this particular (weird) song so memorable to me?  Think back to, geez, maybe 1992 or 1993.  My oldest sister, Beverly, had this navy blue Prelude---and it was a 5 speed.  To this day I have never seen anyone shift gears so fast and change the radio station as fast as she could ;)  Her hand was constantly on the radio buttons, impatiently waiting for the next great song.  Hearing "I'm gonna be (500 miles)," reminds me of that time and how cool I felt to be riding along with my older sister.  I can't even remember where we were going...probably running out to the grocery store for hamburger buns or maybe driving by the post office, but I still had the time of my life riding around with the windows down with Beverly listening to what was probably a one-hit wonder.

Being the youngest sooo has it's perks.  But I think my favorite has been having two awesome sisters to look up to.  I have realized over the years that most older siblings do not realize what an impact they have on their younger siblings---every thing you do is observed and copied and I'm so thankful that I have such classy role models.   

After hearing The Proclaimers, I just had to listen to a certain song (and please don't ask me why I have Cher's greatest hits on CD and on my ipod...).  There's this song that Cher sings (and it's so old!), but it's called "Just like Jesse James."  Flash forward from my riding around days with Beverly to the late 90's---now I was riding around with Heidi, my middle sister.  Heidi was in high school and I was in middle school and every once in awhile she would take me to school or pick me up and let me tell you, I thought I was the stuff.  Heidi drove a white Ford Explorer and unfortunately for us (because I later drove this car) it didn't have a CD player...it just had a cassette player, which was lame but we so rocked it!  Heidi is well known in our family for being a car singer--not just a hum along kind of gal, but "I'm going to belt this song out like I'm in concert" kind of singer.  Heidi was always dramatic singing "Just like Jesse James," and sometimes I would beg her to rewind the cassette just so I could hear her sing it again.  My friends were always jealous that my older sister would let me ride in the car with her (yeah, maybe mom made Heidi come get me but I told everyone that she thought I was cool, too  :)  )

Hearing these songs takes me back to two very different, but two very amazing times in my life.  It makes me wonder what song will take me back to this point in my life.  I am so incredibly blessed and downright fortunate to have two loving and caring sisters in my life and I'm so proud of them!!!  I can't even tell you what a great mom Beverly is to my nephews and I know that Heidi will be just as amazing to their little girl  :)

This is when I surprised my mom in March:

And from last week: