I woke up to my niece this morning
I love her
I was there the day she was born
7 pounds 14 ounces
I've been there pretty much every day since
I'll be there the day she graduates high school
I'll be there the day she's married to the love of her life
I want one, a daughter to love and to spoil
I went to the doctor's today
Oh...
Well

The most tragic thing I've ever experienced
Was my love for you
And yet
The most beautiful thing I've ever experienced
Was my love for you
I still don't know how that can be
But
I know that it's true
I look at your sun worn face with those brows in a permanent scowl now
And I wonder
When I look back on you on us
Will I call you a dream
Or a nightmare

I used to believe that you were my
Happily Ever After
But now I know that you were just the
Snake in the Garden

I look at you now and I see hands rough with work
hands that have traced my every line and my every curve
hands that have memorized my everything from my lovely brown hair to my long long toes
I see lips pursed in admiration of me
lips that kiss like sin
lips that have brought me to the highest peak of the highest mountain
I see legs cradled in sun faded Levi's
legs that have straddled my womanly hips legs that have strolled the beach alongside mine
I look at you now and I wonder
when I look back on you, on us
will I call you my heaven or my hell?

You were there the day I was born and you have been there every day since

When I was a baby...
You would lull me to sleep as I lay upon your belly and with its every rise and every fall I would tumble deeper into my sweet dreams

You would sing to me and even though you did not sound like the angels in the pews it was enough for me

You would tickle my sides until tears rolled down my face with mirth and with joy

When I was a teenager...
You taught me how to drive even though you got the car stuck between two trees when you were seventeen

You looked at me with that understanding stare when I told you about that time I smoked **** with that boy and that time I did that other thing with a different boy

You listened to me when I cried about mom and dad because after 35 years I didn't know if they'd make it

And now...
I consider you my dearest and closest friend

You are Caiti

You are
My Sister