Scott's Thoughts

Little Sis is turning 30

OK, OK, I’ve never actually called Andrea “little sis”. I barely even refer to her as my sister. Usually I just call her Dre. Cause I liked rap music growing up and Dre was an ironic nickname for a skinny little white girl with braces and glasses. Also because she smoked a lot of chronic (just kidding Mom and Dad … like they know what “chronic” is).

Anyway, let me get back to my point. Today Dre turns 30. And this is - aside from an admission that my little sister turning 30 makes me feel really old – a tribute to what a great person and great sister she is.

My first real memory of Andrea is her getting sick on just about every holiday. I swear I was screwed out of two different Halloweens, a Christmas, an Easter, a birthday and probably even a Hanukkah and Kwanzaa because we were rushing Andrea to the emergency room. Andrea did have a fairly serious medical condition in her stomach as an infant. But do you think I cared? Heck no, her sickness kept me from trick or treating. Thirty years later, I’m beginning to move on.

Anyway, my real memory of Andrea as a little sister was of playing Barbies, Care Bears, Cabbage Patches and whatnot with her. I secretly liked playing that stuff with her. One of my favorite things was making Andrea laugh when she was a little kid. She had – and still does – this boisterous belly laugh. I wish I could post some audio of Dre’s “dainty” John-Goodman-esque laugh.

Dre was/is an awesome little sister. She was always getting dragged to one of my baseball, football or basketball games. And very rarely did I ever hear her complain (I’m sure she complained, I just had headphones on most of the time). One of the best things about Dre is that because she was my sister and my father's daughter, she was forced to watch a ton of Chiefs, Royals and Mizzou games. I've never seen an attractive girl like her know so much about sports. Dre also helped my lovely wife realize that I have an unhealthy obsession with Mizzou. And more importantly, that no amount of bitching counseling or coddling will get me to change.

When I graduated high school and went off to college is about the time that Dre started to become a young woman. Now, I don’t know how much time you’ve ever spent in a fraternity house, but let’s just say that jokes about your sister (and mother for that matter) aren’t exactly off limits. I still remember how pissed off I got at some of my fraternity brothers on Family Day my senior year. Jai Kim, Andy Nelson and Rob Sellers were the biggest culprits. Like any of those tools would have a shot with Andrea anyway. I never really looked at Dre as a young woman, but always as my little sister. I was far from a protective older brother, but the jokes aren’t quite as funny when they’re about your sister.

Eventually, Dre did become that young woman and found the man of her dreams, Brandon “Uncle Rico” Heimericks. I give Brandon a hard time, mostly because he deserves it, but he’s a good guy. I truly admire Brandon's courage and dedication to our country (he’s training to be an attack helicopter pilot in the Army) but he's gone a lot. And I know that him being gone makes it a little hard on Dre. I really look up to what Andrea has to go through while Brandon is in training. I’m a parent. I know how difficult it can be. And to do it by yourself for a couple months at a time requires a strength and patience I don’t know if I have.

But all this talk about parenting leads me to my next question: I still haven’t figured out how Dre got pregnant a couple of years ago (she is my sister after all). All kidding aside, I was so happy for Dre and Rico when they showed us that little tiny Mizzou t-shirt a few Christmases ago. I knew they were going to be great parents, and they are.

The pregnancy started out fairly normally, except the fact that Dre and Brandon were at Fort Rucker, Alabama for Brandon’s flight school. But midway through, the pregnancy got scary. Little Chloe just didn’t want to stay in her momma’s belly for very long, so she came out … 13 ½ weeks early. Chloe was a pound-and-a-half when she was born May 5, 2009. She was so tiny. She literally could have fit in the palm of my hand. It was scary, seeing my niece struggling to survive. And I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think she was going to make it and I had no idea how I was going to handle that or how I was going to be able to try to comfort Andrea and Brandon. I was beyond elated that Andrea had survived the preeclampsia and subsequent surgery, but I was very fearful of whether or not Chloe would make it.

But through the wonders of medical science and her fighting spirit, Chloe did make it. Dre was super strong throughout the whole ordeal, which included an extended stay in the nICU, countless doctor visits, a move back to Missouri, a sickness-a-week, and just about anything else you can think of. But like I said, through it all, Dre remained strong. Again, I’m not sure I could have gone through all that.

And now Cwo-Cwo is a cute-as-a-button little 2-year old. And what’s even better? She isn’t completely scared of me anymore! It’s so awesome to see Chloe waddle around the house or to hear her tell her Mommy, “NO!” or to just hear her laugh. I’m just so happy and proud of Andrea when I see Chloe. It’s kind of how I remember Dre at that age.

Happy Birthday Dre! I love you and I'm very proud of you!