My sister Sariah and I weren't the best of friends growing up. She was two and a half years younger than me and she often straddled the line of hanging out with the "big kids", me and Chadmichael, and the "little girls", Rose and Phoebe. Anyone who has grown up in a large family knows that you quickly learn about diplomacy and politics when you have a lot of siblings. Some days you're allied with two of the seven, and just as quick, that alliance can disintegrate and re-form with another group of brothers and sisters. With me and Sariah, our alliances were always shifting. I left home when I was sixteen and when I left, Sariah and my two younger sisters were little girls that I didn't have much in common with at all. Luckily for me, that has changed.
Sariah and I started getting closer over the past six to seven years. When my youngest sister Phoebe moved out to live with me Sariah and I started talking more on the phone. Phoebe and Sariah had been very close and Sariah liked to check in on her, though I very shortly realized that really, Sariah was checking in on me, and I love her for that.
I didn't see my sisters for a few years after I moved away from home. The first time I finally did see them Sariah was like an entirely different person. She was all grown up. She was really into swing dancing. She had long, beautiful hair, and she had lots and lots of boys vying for her attention. She moved to Utah to go to college and shortly thereafter she was engaged and then married to Jake. I was living in France at the time of their wedding and was so bummed that I couldn't make it to see the event.
Not long after her wedding Sariah was pregnant with her first child and I promised her I would be there for the birth. This was after all, the first one of my siblings to give birth! This was big! This was the first of a new generation. This baby would be the oldest cousin once we all started having children. I had to meet this little one, and Sariah wanted all of her sisters there.
When Phoebe and I got the call that she was in labor we hopped in the Mini and drove non-stop to Utah. That was a long drive. My favorite part was going through a winding canyon in the rain listening to the latest Coldplay album, just enjoying the moment with my sister Phoebe. When we got there Sariah was still in labor. The evening before we had to leave Sariah gave birth to her daughter, Phoebe Joy, named after our sister. Phoebe Joy was born on August 16, which is my grandmother Charlotte's birthday. None of us got to meet Grandma Charlotte. She passed away when my mom was 12 or 13. It was an incredible moment to be in the same room as all of my sisters, my mom and the overwhelming presence of my grandmother Charlotte as little Phoebe Joy was brought into the world. If you've never witnessed a birth before, I highly recommend it. I think it could give even the staunchest atheist a run for their money. I actually felt the entrance of a new spirit into the room as she was born. It was incredibly intense.
Sariah was my biggest cheerleader and confidant at the beginning of my relationship with Eric. She listened over the phone to our triumphs and our tragedies. She gave me advice on being in a long-term relationship. She encouraged me. She listened to me. She got to know the man I love via our phone calls. Sariah was the first person I called the night Eric asked me to marry him. She had been waiting the longest for the news, and she was the most thrilled about it.
It was Sariah that shepherded me through the long and arduous process of planning a wedding. She would clip out ideas with her daughter Phoebe Joy and send me them with little letters full of possibilities, color schemes and cake displays. I went to visit Sariah in March of last year and she took me wedding dress shopping, planned the design of my wedding cake and got me to call the hotel in Catalina to firm up the date. Every time I’d feel overwhelmed by the wedding she’d smile a huge smile, pat my shoulder and say, “It’s going to be wonderful! You’re going to look beautiful! Let’s look at invitation designs!” She was my own personal wedding planner.
Sariah made my wedding cake. That’s right. She baked the whole thing, iced it, and assembled all three tiers into boxes that were carried over by friends and family on the ferry to the island. The day of the wedding she put on the finishing touches and worked with my brothers Chadmichael and Rich to make a wedding cake that I couldn’t have dreamed up if I had tried. My siblings are so incredibly talented.
She made Phoebe Joy’s dress. Isn’t it beautiful? She also made Phoebe Joy, isn’t she beautiful? And so precocious! I couldn’t have asked for a more precious little flower girl. She practiced dropping the petals for weeks in advance.
That little girl is going to be a heartbreaker when she grows up.
Her little brother Kimball was my ring bearer. Kimball is a ball of energy, which is why I’m shocked that the photographer was able to get these photos of him.
Truly amazing. As proof of his boundless energy I present to you exhibit “A”. This is in the bridal shop on the day I was picking up my dress. Kimball is the boy who is about two feet off the air.
Here we have exhibit “B”. Kimball is the boy who is again two feet in the air, leaping for joy at the discovery of his brother’s Easter basket. (You can imagine how high he jumped when he found his own.)
Little Warren was an honorary member of the wedding party. He’s the sweetest of the bunch. I cannot resist him when he sucks his thumb:
Or when he acts shy:
Or when he annoys his sister J
Let us not forget Jake. He’s Sariah’s husband, and one awesome brother-in-law.
Look, he actually picks Sariah up and sweeps her off her feet!
Jake can sing, is heavily involved in volunteer work with the scouts and plays with his kids for hours at a time. He loves his kooky family, and I love them.
Sariah, thanks for making my wedding day a dream come true. I’m blessed to have a sister like you.
Monday, February 9, 2009 at 20:30 
