Gina's 24th: An Exercise in Aging

My Kid Sister, Gina, turned 24 earlier this month. That number really pains me. She's in her mid-20s now, which is striking, but it also means I'll be turning 26 in May. TWENTY-SIX. Let me say that again. TWENTY. SIX. GAH!!!!!! For this first time in my life I'll be on the bad side of 25. I had always thought 25 was the perfect age. It says, 'youthful' but with a touch of maturity and class that isn't found at 21 or 23. Not that 26 doesn't say those things, but it means I only have 4 more years to be fun and hip before I lock myself away in a dark closet and drink for a week. But, I digress. This is about Gina.

Notice how I make all my Gina posts about me? I think this goes back to me becoming an older sister. I must not have liked sharing the attention at all. Imagine if I was an only child?! ::shudder::

But, like I said twice already: Gina. She's 24 now. That's just weird. She's still Kid Sister to me, though she's always been without the blond hair, blue eyes, and creep stare that came with those Kid Sister/My Buddy dolls from the late 1980s. And for that, I'm truly thankful. We celebrated her birthday by going to Rock Bottom in Orland Park. It was a decent time, and like always, I took photos. Why? Because "everything must be documented."

First, I said hello to everyone, thrust a bag into her lap and demanded she opened her gifts. Why? Because I'm damn impatient.

Luckily, she likes Nicholas Sparks. ::pause for a moment, I need to roll my eyes::

(I hope she knows the inner strength it took for me to purchase that!)

We also got her a Chicago Cubs hoodie. Surprisingly enough, she didn't have one. Dad was slightly more interested in it than Gina. Sorry Pops, baby blue just isn't your color.

To keep things interesting, I gave her a few more books. She's found that she enjoys reading a little more than she used to, so I'm trying to help foster her new-found hobby. This is a much better strategy than when I was 8 and shoved a book in her face and shouted, "SUBMIT!"

Because I'm still a child and I'm pretty sure I have Adult ADD, I took a picture of my beer. It was really good, and had hints of banana. It sounds weird, but it was surprisingly delicious.

Family shots!

In case you missed it above, Gina is wearing the hoodie we gave her. See? I got good taste, ya'll.

All in all, it was a good birthday. Gina enjoyed herself, and as The Birthday Girl, I'm glad she did. It's always a good time when the family gets together.

Gina's Graduation

I'm a little late in getting these pictures up, but December was crazy!

My kid sister graduated on December 19th after 5 1/2 years of college. It was...weird. I've never really looked at my kid sister as my equal or as an adult. She is, after all, my baby sister. My BABY sister. She's not supposed to grow up! But, as luck would have it, she did turn around and grow up when I wasn't looking, and here are the photos to prove it!

School hasn't always been easy for Gina. In that aspect, we're quite different. While school could have been easy for me, I usually chose to de-stress and take the middle road rather than the rough road. I made it harder on myself than it should have been. I was always a little impressed with myself and surprised when I got good grades on tests and assignments that I knew I didn't dedicate the best of my best to. Imagine what I would have been capable of had I actually been a Super Student!

My sister, on the other hand, always struggled a little more. While reading and writing came easy for me, Gina had to guess at where to put the apostrophes and commas. I didn't always understand it because it was so easy for me. Whenever she asked me to proofread an assignment for her, I'd respond with tactful, guiding comments like, "USE A PERIOD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!" and "YOUR RUN ONS MAKE MY EYES BLEED!!!!"

Like I said, I'm the oldest. It's a control thing.

One area in which we both struggled was math. I'm admittedly math-dumb and eventually would just give up and draw pictures for my answers in math class. If I guessed, I could probably get the correct answer, but these days math is all about the process and knowing how to get to the right answer. I could give two and a half spits about HOW I got to the correct answer, just so long as I DID get the right answer. I had a GPA to protect, dammit!!

But Gina? She's a viking. She never, ever gave up on her education. She never gave anything less than her best. I really admire her for that. If I didn't study enough for a test, I'd go to class anyway, give it the ole college try, and when I got the grade I deserved I'd say, "Eh, I'll get 'em next time" while I sucked down another cup of coffee. My kid sister, on the other hand, would study her eyeballs off for a test and if she didn't perform well, she'd beat herself up about it. Literally. She'd call my crying and looking for comfort, I'd roll my eyes, tell her she was pissing me off and that she needed to grow a pair if she ever expected to graduate with her natural hair color. The child was stressing herself out waaaaaaaaaay too much.

Secretly, I was confused. Why didn't I get that broken up about a bad test grade? Why didn't I put that kind of effort into my assignments? Hell, even I knew that if I studied half as hard as my sister, I'd have earned a 4.0 gpa every semester of college. (Except for the summer I had to take math. I hate math.)

Bottom line: My kid sister is a lot tougher than I give her credit for. She worked her butt off to get into college, and once she was there she wanted to prove that she deserved to be there and deserved to stay. Writing was never something she excelled in, but she knew that and she chose to apply her talents elsewhere. Her dedication to getting the best education possible amazes me. She's the only student I know who showed up to class 90 minutes early in a blizzard. Once, she studied so long that she ended up getting sick and STILL wanted to go to class. Our parents--our slightly anal, guilt-trip-planning parents--had to convince her to skip class, and she did, but damn did she feel bad about it. Does anyone else know a student who works herself so hard that her own parents tell her to skip class?

No? No? Anyone? Bueller? ::tap tap:: Is this thing on?

I admire Gina's ability to persevere. She's tough, and she earned her college diploma. I'm really proud of her.

Hey Mom, I bet you're crying right now, aren't you? Stop crying, dammit! There's no crying in baseball!

Anyway, on to the photos!

The Sports Place, a.k.a. Shannon Center at St. Xavier University. They dress this place up for graduation! The last time I was here, I was 16 and trying to convince some college guys I was really a freshman. It didn't work.

There's my kid sister! She's the one trying not to laugh because she's nervous and knows I'm taking pictures of her. The kid needed to laugh. Otherwise she would have been worrying that she'd trip and fall on her face in her cute-but-not-sensible shoes.

Look! A bunch of smart people!

Gina's group gets ready to graduate. There were a billion Master's in Teaching and Education candidates. I'm glad my sister was in a smallish group.

Once again, my sister was looking a little too uptight (she's totally her mother's daughter). So, I took it upon myself to make her smile.

Yay! We bees koledge graduites. We is smrt now.

There was cake for the graduates. Being the responsible older sister, I felt it was my duty to test the cake and make sure it was safe for Gina to eat.

Gina: "Are we done taking pictures yet?"

Me: "No. Just keep staring at the bald spot on Dad's head."

In addition to cake, there were sandwiches.

Graham only takes the nicest pictures of me.

Graham, Gina, and The Fabulous One. Gina was proud to join the ranks of the diplomafied.

It was a fun day, and I'm glad we were there to share it. Gina worked hard, and she deserved the right to walk across the stage and accept her diploma book (Her actual diploma is in the mail).