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By Emily Zbytovsky

I am the baby of the family. My parents had three stinky boys before they were blessed with a baby girl. All of my life I have been grateful that I was the only girl with the bonus of five years between my youngest brother and me. I went through my entire years of high school as the only kid in the house. And now that I think of it, none of my closest girl friends had sisters either.

Was I blessed or did I miss out on something? Well, I have tons of experience in the sister-in-law department because that is all I could ever have. Fourteen, you heard me; I have or have had, at one point or another, fourteen sister-in-laws. Some I just love to death and some just drive me crazy. (I’ll let them decide who is who). But because they are sister-in-laws, I am not the first one on the list to call when they have drama. Only one of my current sister-in-laws is the only girl in her family as well. I am grateful she is close to her mother.

I have never been a fan of girl drama, gossip, or the she said, she said that is soon to follow. I am pretty much a tell it like it is type of girl. Tell you the truth; there are a lot of people out there that don’t care for that at all. That is why I am happy to keep a couple of girls in my life that I would call ‘friends’. (I’ll let them decide who is who).

But I do believe that my whole outlook on girlfriends has been paid in full. I have been so blessed (?) to have two lovely daughters. Sisters. There is 5 years in between Michala and Shay. Everything has been OK in our house because Shay was not aware she was a girl. You would have to know Shay to understand. She is my outdoors, playing with my dog in the mud, out at daddy’s shop where she is assisting her dad in changing the oil in the Blazer that will one day be hers, kind of gal.

Michala is a little mother to Shay. She has done this since Shay was a baby. Five-year-old Michala thought we were bringing her a baby doll from the store when we showed up at home with Shay. Often I have to remind Mac that I am in the room and I can take care of Shay.

Sisters. They love each other and get on each other’s nerves all within the same minute. They sleep in the same bed, although they do not share a room. It is definitely Mac’s room, as she will slam the door shut in Shay’s face and tell her that it is not her room. But come nighttime, Mac would not be able to sleep if Shay was not there, and vice versa.

I found some humor the other night at the little one. Shay is starting to get the whole girl thing down pat, as she put her hand on her hip and gave her sister the ‘what for’. And in return Mac sent it back at her. This continued for a while and I did not interfere. I guess there was part of me that wanted to see who would win. (I would put money on the little one). While sitting there, I wondered...is this what sisters do?

It sure is. My mom has sisters and I have always listened to her complain about one or all of them. But she always goes back to them. One of my good friends has a ton of sisters and she goes through the same things...the she said, she said. My girls go at it at least once a day. Unconditional love a sister must have.