Sibling Stories

This Saturday is National Siblings Day (it’s also Second COVID Shot Day! 🙌), so I’m going to dedicate today’s blog post to a few of my favorite people: the siblings I was born with and the ones I’ve gained along the way.

Here’s a collection of (some of) my favorite sibling stories, from oldest sibling (sorry, Tara) to youngest sibling.

The Day Tara and I Discovered a Parrish Winery

I don’t remember which year this was, but Tara and I started the day at Cooper’s Hawk in Tampa and made our way down to Parrish somehow at a surprisingly beautiful (but not very delicious) winery. 

Did you know that Parrish has a winery? We didn’t either, but we tried their signature wine, and Tara said, “This is what you serve at a dinner party full of guests you don’t want to see again.”

Military Balls, Tennis Rackets, Broken Air Conditioners — Oh My! (feat. Ryan)

The weekend after my 21st birthday, I took a trip to Norfolk, VA to visit my sister and her fam. We attended a military ball where Ryan and I tested Erica’s ability to corral and wrangle. We had so much fun together, but one of my favorite things about this night was that Ryan had a tennis racket in every single photo, including this one where we’re having a serious heart-to-heart outside the bathroom:

When we got home from the military ball, we discovered the air conditioning was broken in their condo and proceeded to move into a hotel room for the remainder of the weekend.

Nat & Erica’s Great Hair Disaster of 2012

The military ball trip turned out to be an eventful one because it also happens to include one of my favorite Erica stories. We were SO EXCITED to get our hair done for the ball. Erica found a salon nearby and booked some appointments.

We both came prepared with inspo photos and knew exactly what we wanted, but then we ended up with...this:

I had to fight back laughter when they spun Erica around in the chair to reveal her new ‘do. We both looked terrible. I remember Erica saying, “Well at least I can take a nap this afternoon because I don’t have to worry about messing up my hair. It’s already pretty messed up.”

Luckily she’s pretty much a pro at hair (definitely better than the salon we went to), and Erica was able to fix us both up before the ball.

Learning New Languages with Austin

At the height of lockdown, we got really into virtual game nights. One night, we were playing Jack Box with Austin and Tara and decided to try out Fakin’ It, a game where you have to guess the imposter.

Basically, everyone is given the same prompt on their phone except for one person, and that person has to try to fool everyone else into thinking they’re not the imposter. They get a prompt that will yield a similar answer to what everyone else is saying.

For example, the regular question might be, “What’s a popular baby name?” and the imposter might get the prompt, “What’s your favorite flower?” If the imposter answers something like Iris (❤️), Lily, Rose, etc., they can blend right in because those could double as baby names. The trick is, the imposter doesn’t know what the real question is.

Anyway, Austin was the imposter for this round, and his question was, “What is your favorite type of international cuisine?” When Austin saw the real prompt, “Name a language that you think would be the hardest to learn,” he said, “Uh-oh.” And then these answers popped up:

Needless to say, Austin lost that round.

Alec’s Wedding Roast Toast

Most of my favorite Alec stories revolve around our dogs and, specifically, how well he loves them. (I recently found out he used to sleep on the couch when he would babysit Bailey so that Bailey could sleep in his dog bed but not be alone in the living room, and my heart was so touched.)

But one of my absolute favorite Alec moments is when he used his wedding toast to, not only roast Sean, but also compliment me. I believe the line went something like this: Aside from the occasional attitude with Sean, deep down, he’s a good guy, and no one can bring that out like Natalie.

THAT’S RIGHT. I am the best at everything, including making Sean better. And I’m glad someone recognizes that. (Just kidding.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the time Erica, Austin and I got the hotel cops called on us in Vegas when we were in...elementary/middle school maybe? We weren’t doing anything cool. We were simply being too loud while playing a game of baseball. The bat? A bright yellow stuffed snake I insisted my parents buy for me.

Anyway, happy National Siblings Day Eve Eve! I love you all, and I love how much fun we have together.