Growing up, Lisa & I had a love-hate relationship, as most siblings do. We fought like sisters, and made up like friends. In general, however, we were always pretty good together. She was always a goofy-looking, awkward little girl. Big coke-bottle glasses, buck teeth from sucking her thumb for so many years, and a little extra baby pudge that stayed with her into high school. Mom says she sucked her thumb from Day 1. At some point, she received a teddy bear with a silk ribbon around its neck, which became her "thumb-sucking bear." For years, she would rub the silky ribbon with one hand while sucking her thumb on the opposite hand (that bear went through several ribbons obviously). I don't remember how old she was when Mom finally took away the teddy bear to try to break her of the thumb-sucking habit. It worked though. Then on Lisa's 18th birthday, Mom wrapped up the teddy bear and gave it to her as a gift. Even I got teary eyed with that one. It was high school when Lisa & I started becoming especially close. She was a freshman while I was a senior, so we had one year together in the same school. At some point during high school, Lisa shed the glasses, wore braces to straighten her teeth, and dropped the baby pudge. By her senior year, she had become more beautiful than I could ever hope to be. After I'd gone on to college, I would go back to Mason to visit her on a regular basis all the way up until she graduated in 1997. After she graduated high school, Lisa moved to Mt. Pleasant where she & I shared an apartment together for one year (my senior year of college). I've always maintained that she was the best roommate I had in four years of college. I LOVED living with her. We could have a fight, then turn around and order a pizza. It was just how we worked. We never worried about whose pop was in the fridge or whose money was sitting on the table. It was all just "ours." In May 1998, Lisa moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Mom & I drove her down with all her belongings, and on the way back to Michigan, sans Lisa, Mom & I talked about how we weren't going to cry because we were going to see her again the following month. I cried when I got home anyway. In January 2000, my then-husband and I moved to Nashville ourselves. We shared an apartment with Lisa for about six-months, after which she moved into a house and my husband and I leased our own apartment. I learned I was more of a homebody, though, and as much as I loved being so close to Lisa again, I didn't like living in Nashville, so my husband and I moved back to Michigan in December 2000. During the 9-1/2 years Lisa lived in Nashville, she attended school at Middle Tennessee State University and Nashville State Technical Institute (the local community college). She had originally planned to become a math teacher, but eventually changed her mind and was working toward a degree in accounting. She worked construction for several years -- I was so proud of her for this. She knew how to play with the big boys, but she was still very much a girl. A girl guy's love! At some point, she secured a job with the State of Tennessee in the accounting department where she worked for probably 2-3 years (I can't remember), but in early 2007, she went back to construction for financial reasons. Sometime during 2006, Lisa met and became friends with David. Their friendship blossomed into a relationship. She died four days before she was to leave for Hawaii to meet him, where he was completing his two-week military reserve training. During that trip, David was going to propose to her -- she would've said yes for sure! She loved that man like no other. In early 2007, Lisa learned she was going to become an aunt, as Dan & I were having a baby. For some reason, she wanted a nephew in the worst way! I remember calling her in mid-March when we found out that we were, indeed, having a boy. When I told her she was having a nephew, she nearly came through the phone to kiss me. She spoiled our unborn son all the way up until the day she died. Lisa last visited Michigan in August 2007. She was in charge of games for my baby shower and she did a great job!! Social girl she is, she really enjoyed taking charge and making sure everyone had fun. I know I did. And because we ran out of time for one of the games, I now have about 18 jars of baby applesauce waiting for Sean to be able to enjoy them. As much as Lisa loved her family in Michigan, she really enjoyed living in Nashville. She worked, she played, she socialized. She had some great moments, and some not-so-great moments while living there. But her spirit was never truly broken -- she always came out on the other side of anything. Our family constantly tried to convince Lisa to move back to Michigan, but she was too happy and comfortable in Nashville to return home. As a matter of fact, in Nashville, Lisa was home. I was so blessed to have had 28-years with her. I know it sounds cliche, but there are no other words to say that Lisa was not just my sister, but she was truly my very best friend.