After Spring Break, TaMarah and I kept having scheduling conflicts (who knew a six year old had such a social scene?). Four phone calls and a three emails later, TaMarah’s mom and I decided that I would take TaMarah to her school carnival. Tickets in hand, we walked into the school and TaMarah’s jaw dropped—a moon bounce, cotton candy, ice cream, face painting, Wii, games galore in the gym, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. To say TaMarah was excited would have been an understatement. Not long after getting there, we had run into all her best friends and their parents. All night, we scurried around making sure we hit all the hot spots (some multiple times).

Three hours of fun and we were worn out, so we headed home. I walked her in and I started chatting with her mom about her upcoming wedding. We talked for about 40 minutes about the decorations, her dress, and all that jazz. As I got in the car to leave, I came to a realization that big sibs is more than just hanging out with your little sib once a week. It is about truly becoming part of their lives, building a relationship with them and their family.

With my sorority big sis weekend coming up, I found it really difficult to schedule a time to hang out with TaMarah this week. I even contemplated skipping a week, but then I reminded myself I had a commitment to Madison House and TaMarah and I needed to honor it. Since I was short on time, I decided to take her out to dinner. Chili’s had always been one of my favorite places as a child. Getting to coloring at the table—who wouldn’t LOVE this?

This was TaMarah’s response: “I don’t like that place.”

“Are you sure? They have chicken fingers. Don’t you like those?”

“Yea I guess.”

Kids’ ability to reject anything foreign will never cease to perplex me. When we got there we livened up the whole place, skipping to the restroom, entertaining our waitress, and coloring (of course). And who would’ve thought…she ate all of her chicken fingers.

Since we finished dinner early, we went to her school to play on the playground. We ran around and she showed me all her “tricks.” She is quite the little monkey. After letting out some energy, we went back to her house and I promised to see her next week.

With February 14^th around the corner, we had to celebrate. TaMarah is at the age where Valentine’s Day is like Halloween filled with sweets, presents, and even secret admirers. Decorating cookies and making lovebugs—a perfect plan.

Since I ran out of time to get icing and sprinkles, we stopped by Kroger. Who would’ve thought self-checkout would be the highlight of the day?

As we headed back to the car, she grabbed my hand and said, “I missed you, Berkley.”

“Missed you too, TaMarah. Luckily, we get to hang out every week now.”

Our cookies were filled with hearts, princess sprinkles, x’s and o’s, and enough sugar to make anyone bounce off the wall with energy. Well that’s probably an understatement. After we made our craft and colored for a while TaMarah did somersaults on the couch between each gluing.

With our extra time, she painted my nails…only to be surprised by the rental company and potential new residents. Let me tell you they were impressed by my manicure of about 15 colors.  Even though we just hung out at my apartment and were interrupted, TaMarah and I had fun hanging out, probably partly because of our sugar highs!