Thankful Thursday: Dear Oprah

Here is an abridged version of a letter I wrote to Oprah a couple of years ago about my sister who I am very very thankful for:

Dear Oprah,

I am writing to tell you about my phenomenal sister. My sister has always been an angel looking after me. When I went off to college in 1997, she wrote a survival manual to help guide me through college life. It had everything I needed to know in order to graduate safely and successfully. Unfortunately, I didn't read the whole thing and it collected dust until I graduated in 2001. I ended up making so many mistakes that her manual could have prevented me from making. My sister is truly an expert on life, and whenever any of her friends or family members want to do something life changing, they always go to her for advice.

In 2006, I got engaged on Valentine's Day and immediately began to enthusiastically plan my wedding. Unfortunately, a few months after I got engaged, I fell on some hard times. I was ready to give up on my wedding plans completely. For the next few months my sister stopped working and engaging in her daily routines so that she could almost single-handedly plan and give me the wedding of my dreams. I got married on June 3, 2006. If it weren't for my sister, I still probably would not be married, or I would have just settled for a justice of the peace wedding.

After the wedding, I stayed home for the summer, and she began to rewrite the college survival manual for publishing. I could never repay my sister for giving me such a fabulous wedding. However, I was able to spend the summer editing and writing the introduction for her book.

Shortly after publishing her book, Your Big Sister’s Guide to Surviving College, she decided to dissolve her office relocation business and start a new business doing what she does best—inspiring! She is now a certified life coach and has transformed CGC Consultant Group into CGC Connections: A Life Enrichment Company. She is truly the best “Big Sister” a girl could ever have.

Please excuse the fuzzy picture. I had to do some editing to cut people out. Can you believe I don't have any recent pictures of just me and my sister? (This is an old picture.)

~Joan