"To the soul, there is hardly anything more healing than friendship"
Thomas Moore
I have healing frienships with my sisters. In particular, RaeAnn and I have always been BFF's. When I was little, I loved to play with RaeAnn and her friends (even though they used me as a test-dummy for their cheers). After Mom passed away, RaeAnn had to be a "mom" for me. She had to get me ready for church and the only way she could do it was if I pretended that I was a puppy dog. All Sunday morning I'd walk around on all 4's, panting like a puppy, and doing whatever RaeAnn asked me to (including barking at Ashley whenever RaeAnn were order, "Sick her, puppy!") But don't worry, when I got older we liked to play with Ashley too!! :)
As I got older, RaeAnn would still have trouble getting me to let her curl my hair (I swear she burned me once!), but RaeAnn became my best friend. I have always felt comfortable telling RaeAnn all of my secrets that no one else knows (definitely no one else in the family). She's always been my advice giver and psychiatrist.
When we found out that we were going to move to Boise from Montana, it was right around my birthday. RaeAnn and Ashley threw me a surprise party with all of my friends to say goodbye. RaeAnn has thrown me so many birthday parties! Since Dad doesn't really want to hang out with a group of loud girls, RaeAnn always plans fun things for me and my friends to do and comes with us. She makes me cakes, and she makes me the coolest girl in school...When we moved to Boise, all of my friends thought RaeAnn was the coolest! (I'm pretty sure they liked her more than me). Once she came to my elementary school to help on a field trip. During recess everyone wanted to hang out with RaeAnn and I. All the boys thought she was so cute! And she even ended up doing cheers in the field for all the school to watch. And when I was having girl-drama problems in 8th grade, I just hung out with RaeAnn and Paul on the weekends. We'd go run errands, watch TV shows we're hooked on (One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, 24, and Charmed), and play on the boat. I was never sad when I was hanging out with RaeAnn.
And then when we moved to Arizona, the thing I knew I'd miss the most was having RaeAnn 5 minutes away. I would call RaeAnn all the time and vent to her about things that were bothering me.
Now we're back in Boise with RaeAnn and Paul and I couldn't be more happy! I love spending time with them, they always make me happy. RaeAnn has already helped me with so many senior year things that I really needed her for. We get to go on trips together, make dinners together, and monster cookies! 
Whenever people ask me who I admire it's always been RaeAnn. She's so amazing. She succeeds at most everything she tries. She's a wonderful people-person; whoever she meets has no choice but to love her and want to be her friend. In the words of Ashley, she holds our family together. She's the favorite aunt and the one that everyone wants to talk to. She organizes all of our family get-togethers and works hard to make them way fun (with little help from the rest of us...). She's very self-less and always wants to make sure everyone is happy and having a good time. I have been seriously, so blessed to have a sister like RaeAnn in my life to help raise me, teach me, and get me through hard times. I only wish I could give back at least half the support and help that RaeAnn has given me through my life.
