27

Well, let's see... what happened when I was 27? I was working my first full school year thanks to the FMLA and very understanding bosses. Steven and I were planning to have a wedding celebration exactly one year after our official marriage, but it turned out that was a little ambitious considering our life circumstances at the time. My family got to celebrate a big wedding that year anyway. My brother proposed to his girlfriend with personalized M&Ms and she said yes.

Let's go back in time for a minute to talk about my brother. Remember Isac? Born prematurely, 18 months after me and, in my parents' words, "like he was coming down a slide?" Well, Ike grew up. He had some scrawny years through school, but is now a lean, not so mean, workout machine in Correction Officer training. I guess Isac and I mostly got along, although there is a distinct lack of pictures of us together in our teen years, and in our early twenties, when we were living in different places. What I remember about Isac: He could be cranky and stubborn, a sore loser with a temper. He once got into an argument with my mom and slipped and cut open his head when he was stomping upstairs to his room. When they got to the doctor's, he was still mad, so he told the doctor my mom pushed him down the stairs. My parents claim that I loved being a big sister, but I distinctly remember writing "Isac Stahl" on the wall in our house in sloppy cursive, hoping to get him into trouble (amazingly, my plot did not work). I remember fighting for the front seat and Isac getting away with way more than I ever did. I also remember playing house, and restaurant, and soccer. I remember one day deciding we would try dressing as the opposite sex, which for me included putting on Isac's sweatpants, t-shirt, and baseball cap, and for him meant a floral dress. I remember playing Barbie and My Little Pony and Isac insisting I give him one of my ponies (I chose the ugliest one and acted like the best sister for giving it to him).

I suppose we went through a period of mostly ignoring each other until I went to college. One of the first times I was back home, I asked Isac if he wanted to go see a movie and he was highly surprised/suspicious that I wanted to hang out with him. Since then, it's been all good. From witnessing my rugby and sorority parties to hanging out in Boston and Fort Myers, to the occassional 5K or phone call, Isac and I now each live an hour away from our parents and two hours away from each other. Isac found himself a good girl, and they were married in September 2010.