Pin Cushion.

Ahhh, family members.  There is no gray area with them.  They are either really messed up, and you choose not to do anything but to laugh at their inadequacies, or you adore them and can't wait to spend time with them.  There are never family members, that you think, "Meh, they are okay, they don't bug me."

Well this post is to highly praise my one-of-a-kind, fabulously awesome, sister-in-law Jennifer.  Those of you out there that know Jennifer in the flesh will agree that there is no better human being placed on this earth to be a sibling of my darling husband Frank.  I can't believe that I get to be related by marriage to this person.  She's the person that people would beg to be friends with.  I've seen groveling before at her doorstep.  And, the sprinkles on top of the moist on the outside, gooey on the inside cupcake of Jennifer is that she is a Mom.  And I wanna be like her when I grow up.

First off, I think I have mentioned it before, but I finally want to break out the picture of Frank and I at our senior prom.  Because it was Jennifer that took this picture, convinced that we would get married one day.  I love that you can see the annoyance in our faces of being squished together. 

So uncomfortable.  At this point, we were just friends, and ewwwww, it's Frank!  I love his mullet.  It took me a few years after dating to convince him to get rid of that.  Lucky for me he cut it before our wedding.  I probably shouldn't talk though.  This is was the first dress I had worn in about 10 years, and it showed.  A football player in a dress.  Shortly after this picture was taken, I ripped the bottom of it getting into the car.  Geez, couldn't even last 5 minutes.

So, this is where Jennifer's reign as 'Fearless Sister-In-Law' really started.  She was convinced at this point that Frank and I were destined to be together. 

I can't count the ways that Jennifer has verbally assisted her brother and I.  There are so many 'therapy sessions' that Frank and Jennifer have had, and he really takes her advice to heart.  She doesn't mess around.  There is never any sugar coating.  We all need family members in our lives that are going to be honest with you, but in the absolute nicest way possible.  At least I have respect for the people that tell you you have a large booger, or that your skirt is tucked into your pantyhose.  Or in Frank's case, when it's time to cut the mullet.

But, it's not all vanity with Jennifer.  I wanted to share something recently that happened between us.

We were at their house, to be honest, I don't remember why.  It was evening, and the girls were in their PJ's, and just our presence was getting them crazy.  Amongst all the chaos, Jennifer pulled me aside and said she had something for me.  And proceeds to give me this:

Now I know better with Jennifer not to form opinions right away because everything (large or small) has some sort of meaning.  Although at first, I was thinking, "WTF?  I don't sew.  Why is she giving me a pin cushion?"

Notice all the pins are an array of colors, placed in little groups. 

"You know that we also struggled at times getting our beautiful girls.  This pin cushion was something that I kept nearby, for when I was feeling angry about my infertility.  Instead of taking it out on others, I would keep my hands busy, rearranging the colors of the pins and making patterns.  Sometimes it just felt good to shove pins into something, and pretend it was someone's head,"  Jennifer then says.

She pauses and starts again, "I also used to leave it on the pillow as a sign when it was 'time'.  And I got pregnant!  I then made one for another friend, and she got pregnant too!  So, here's mine.  I don't need it anymore.  Maybe it will help."

I guess we'll find out!

By the way, here's the girls I talked about, just in case you forgot how damn cute they were:

Me & Maddie

Allie