I spent the 4th of July at my sister's house in the boondocks. She had a

lot of friends over, as well as the in-laws-to-be, and we sat around and had

lots of food, set off fireworks, and got to know the people that I'll be calling

family soon enough.

Seven years ago, my sister Chrissy was in this horrible relationship with a

loser cokehead named John. She was engaged to be married to him, and luckily,

that fizzled out and she met a much better guy named Mike. They're getting

married in September at this nice country club on the outskirts of my college

town.

It was a happy day for me- watching how my sister at 28 has found a certain

peace that you wouldn't expect with the kind of background we've had. She has a

nursing career she loves, friends that adore her, and a wonderful fiancee that I

will be proud to call my brother-in-law soon enough. I'm walking her down the

aisle (since, you know, our dad is nowhere to be found), and I'm glad I'll be

gving her away to this nice, sweet guy that loves her.

Contrast that to the girl she was at 17- barely passing 11th grade, in a

relationship with a guy that our family couldn't stand, working her ass off at a

dead-end job in McDonald's to help keep the light on at our apartment- and I

just think, "Wow, she's really come a long way, and she's matured into one hell

of a woman".

As a guy who's trying to navigate the road to adulthood, and sees the end

of his college years looming, it's nice to have a sibling that can kinda "show"

the way. I mean, not that I plan on taking the same sort of path- but it's nice

to know that she, along with my oldest sister Jenny, found a way to a good,

stable life despite all the hardship we all suffered as children .