number one

I was just catching up on some blogs and decided to write a quick post about Charlotte, my Number One.

She is so good to me. I don't know how I got so lucky to be her sister, but I did, and I will be forever grateful. I can't believe that she is almost finished with her undergraduate experience. I feel like she was just barely leaving home for her freshman year here. I know that she is thinking about a lot of things and figuring things out, but her impending departure from higher education has me thinking, too.

I have always followed Charlotte. She has always been the leader. Though she may have abused her power at times, I didn't mind, because I wanted to play the games she thought of and do the things she did. When she took her first step into the world of education, I would wait on the corner of our street for her to come home from kindergarten each day. All through elementary, middle, and high school, she carved an impressive path in front of me. She made things so much easier for me. I just had to follow. I loved carrying on the Wood family tradition she started.

My sophomore year of high school, the realization hit me that she would be leaving me soon. Not only would I be losing my ride to seminary, I would lose having my closest friend so close-by. I loved sharing a school with her. We shared friends and classes, and it was wonderful. (We also shared a room, but that wasn't entirely wonderful.) That year, I would think about that impending change and separation with a pit in my stomach, knowing that a big change was coming to me and my family, and not knowing how we would all take it.

She did leave, and as in all things she does, I was watching. I read her blog and stalked her Facebook albums, and vicariously lived the college life. For the two years I was home and she was away, I was taking notes on how college should be done while doing my best to uphold the Wood family name she established in high school.

Four years later, I'm a sophomore again and watching my Number One take another step forward, taking our family into uncharted territory once again. She's going to be a college graduate! She's going to get a real job and move somewhere exciting and have a career. She's not going to write papers anymore or have reading assignments. She's going to be a real person. Charlotte is going to be amazing. She always is.

Our relationship has deepened so much over the past two years. For the short time we have spent together in Provo, we have been our own little family, upholding family traditions and supporting each other in ways that only sisters can. With her, I talk in stupid voices, talk about the personal and the ridiculous, and express concerns and frustrations. I love meeting up with her on campus and spending Number One time together. I'm really going to miss her next year.

Part of me wishes that our family could stay the same. That's not how life works, though. As in facing all change, I can can be comforted by the promise that better things are always ahead. Though the past holds so many beautiful things, the best is yet to be for Charlotte, for me, and for our entire family.