Sherri

The next subject in my “inspiring ladies” series is my younger sister, Sherri. Growing up, we were about as different as two sisters could be in many respects and over the years we have had ups and downs in our relationship. Today, there are few relationships I cherish as much as the one I have with my sister and as we have both grown and started families of our own, the bond we share has only gotten deeper through the years.

There are so many memories I share with my sister growing up…from family vacations to painting our hideout in the basement to late nights of kick the can in the summer to food fights and riding bikes to the playground. There are few people on the planet as competitive as I am, but my sister absolutely blows me away. We did a vacation with my mom to Sedona in October 2022 and my sister very deliberately set us up for Pickleball “lessons” while we were at the resort. Now, my sister and I have both played tennis (both LEFTIES!) since we were small children and getting back to the competitive thing, I gave up tennis in high school because my sister was so SO GOOD at it and it became her thing more or less. I ended up playing again in the years that followed, the point being, my sister and I are both solid, competitive tennis players.

So, Sedona. We head to the lesson and as we walk on the court, my sister takes off her sweatshirt and is wearing a t-shirt that says, “Beware! I’m ready to kick your butt today!” with a graphic of a pickleball on it. Tone set. Clearly, my sister and I joined forced to obliterate our 70+ year old mother and the pickleball pro for the resort, taking no prisoners along the way, serving only slay. At one point, the pro looked at our mom and said, “would you mind stepping off of the court for a minute? There’s no way I am losing to your daughters.” Unfortunately for him, he lost. Duh.

This piece is a tribute to my sister, and anyone who has known her since high school (and she is the kind of person who treasures friendships forever, so I am sure there are a lot of you out there) should easily recognize the photo this portrait was based upon. Senior picture, GlenOak High School, wearing the sweater Evie knit. There are things my sister absolutely will not tolerate, including poofy hair, hence the hair is perfectly smooth, no poof. The white stripe in her sweater is blue glow in the dark glass, reminiscent of the many nights we stayed up way too late talking on our Barbie Phones until mom screamed at us to stop. The face has blue and orange flowers, along with orange hearts and blue star glitter, in honor of her (and now her daughter, Anna’s) undergrad choice of Syracuse University. And her sweater is fabric with silver sparkles, stars and the night sky as a reminder that no matter how far apart we are, we are always under the same sky…finally, the background is clear and blue and when framed, will have a removable mirror behind it to recreate the backdrop of the photo exactly.