Sisters on the Town (or in the Middle of Nowhere as it were...)

Used to be, Jenna and I would pretty much always go to parties together. You see, neither of us has ever been a partier in the traditional sense, and I know at least for me, it enhanced the experience of a party to have my sister and best friend around. I also found that having her there- someone who I could count on to tap into the vein of subversive humor that runs through all situations- seemed to temper my social insecurities to the point of being mostly manageable. So throughout about half of our twenties, Jenna and I joined forces for most parties- from weird dance parties (where Jenna did some majorly wacky interpretive dance on the floor) to balls to the wall Halloween throw-downs (Jenna and I collaborated on costuming- I was a pinata and Jenna was a little girl busting the pinata) to Hot Springs Tupperware parties in church basements...
In 2003, when Jenna was 24, she became very sick with Crohn's. She could not attend parties with me, as she was often in the bed. Then at the end of that year she had her accident which caused a severe traumatic brain injury. For the rest of her 20s, Jenna did not party. She was fighting for her life and for the recovery of her basic abilities- talking, walking, eating, remembering. Dealing with struggles of such depth that no one in her 20s should have to touch with a 10 foot pole.
Well, Jenna is 31 now, and I am profoundly proud to report that we partied together the other night. It was Molly's annual Middle of Nowhere party (3 day extravaganza featuring music, food, beautiful mountains, burning sacrifical art sculptures, and lots of dogs.) Jenna and I rode out there for the Friday evening goings on, and we had a great time together. I realized it was the first time in a long time we have done something like that. Check out the photo-evidence!





Rock out, Jenna! Here's to many many more years of fun times together!