Hannah spent her entire childhood looking up at her big sister, Michelle. In order to compensate, she would strap on some dangerous high heels to artificially jumpstart her growth spurt. "Come on, how long does a 12 year old have to wait to grow some inches around here?" Hannah grumbled. She practiced wobbling around in her heels of death, clutching to the edges of furniture to maneuver around the house. Anything small as an open window could let in enough gust to jeopardize Hannah's stability.
Michelle walked over to Hannah and complimented her cute Sabbath outfit and shoes. Hannah smiled, "You know it sis!" and high-fived her sister, trying not to reveal the shock wave of force being sent through her small, gangly body. She was no match for her sister's massive biceps and shoulders. It was like she had a small Hulk living inside of her!
Hannah took immediate action. At mealtimes, she loaded up on carbohydrates: bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes (or was that a starch? Oh well). At gymnastics practice, she would grunt, gasp and pant as her coach, also her big sister, tortured her gymnastics team with push-ups, burpies, death crawls, and other ghastly afflictions that are not even allowed in America's borders. No matter how much Hannah agonized, she would smile secretly to herself; If Michelle only knew that because of this training, she would rise up to be twenty times as strong as her sister!? Hannah only pretended to whine and complain about how much she loathed conditioning...in order to conceal her master plan. Genius!
****************The author would like to comment at this time that her story may contain slight exaggerations for the amusement of its reader. That is all, thank you.*****************
After practice, she would pluck her rubber band biceps and realize that...she would have to take steroids if she was ever going to be as tall and strong as Michelle.
One summer night on the eve of Hannah's 13th birthday, she began to feel an extreme aching in her legs. She tossed and turned, groaning at the lightning bolts of pain belting her quads and calf muscles. Night after night, these mysterious pains would revisit her legs. "This must be the tooth fairy having a midlife crisis!" thought Hannah as she imagined a grumpy, menopausal creature fluttering around her legs and smacking them with her wand stick.
Suddenly, Hannah's pants began to reveal her ankles. Squeezing into a pair of jeans was like watching a childbirth backwards. Before she knew it, she had a pile of clothes packed into a bag, waiting to be given to her BIG sister, Michelle! She could hardly wait until practice that night. Finally, it was the appropriate time to give Michelle a warning of her impending defeat as the strongest Schaefer offspring! Her reaction to the clothes however was of pure gratitude and thanks! "Oh, she knows what awaits her..." concluded Hannah, "she is shaken to the core in fear at my new, impressive stature!"
That Sabbath, for Hannah, was the moment of truth. She had gathered up enough confidence to face Michelle. She had succeeded in towering a good 2 inches above her AND 2 jean sizes larger. "This will be common physics! I shall have victory!" thought Hannah victoriously. Sabbath lunch was coming to an end, and Father had already settled into his assumed Sabbath afternoon position, snoring loudly in the corner lounge chair. Hannah leaned back in her seat and stretched out her arms as casually as possible. Then she asked, "Hey Michelle... wanna have a leg wrestling contest?" As if on cue, Michelle's muscles flexed and her beautiful legs appeared even more defined. Hannah's eyes bulged at the sight and she gulped nervously. "Oh, she's just a peacock ruffling her feathers; trying to scare me!" Hannah thought, searching for her escaping confidence.
Michelle laughed merrily, frolicked to the living room and plopped herself down on the floor. "Come on little sis! Let's see if your legs still work after all those frog jumps I made you do on Thursday!" Hannah primped my hair and tried to look as cocky as possible. "Oh, please! You are going to be begging for mercy once I'm through with you!" said Hannah with a laugh and pranced over to meet her on the floor.
Laying down on the floor facing each other, they gripped hands and synchronized the count, timing their swinging legs with the rhythm of "1.......2.......3!!!!" Suddenly, Hannah saw a swirl of circling colors and light! It was like she was peering inside of a washing machine on spin cycle! Michelle had clasped her leg over Hannah's and sent her tumbling in the opposite direction within two seconds! The family cheered and got in line to compete against the Olympian leg wrestler. Hannah couldn't believe that her new growth gave her absolutely zero leverage against mighty Mich! The thought of a rematch crossed her mind. She then made a very wise decision; she sat curled up in the safety of the couch and cheered on her big sister while she also pounded their brothers, KC and Kurt. From then on, Hannah lived a docile life, never to argue or fight against anyone, ever again.
TIME OUT!
(OK, we both know that is NOT true, but hey it looks nice on paper, right?)
******************************************************************************
But this story is not over, oh no, not even close! Hannah continued to mature and still admired and "looked up" to her big sister... even though she physically towered over her by at least five inches! Michelle was a tough coach, and always pushed Hannah to work her hardest. Because of gymnastics, this skinny introverted girl was able to present her gymnastics in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of viewers. Hannah always wanted Michelle to be proud of her; but she soon realized that no matter how she performed on the floor, in practice or competition, Michelle would be the first to hug and tell her good job. Hannah watched Michelle handle herself with grace dealing with difficult customers and athletes. She always managed to show them love and forgiveness.
Michelle helped guide young Hannah with common teenage issues, and was always there with open arms. Michelle shared with Hannah stories of her own past and mistakes, which gave her courage to face her own problems, knowing that she would have God to keep her standing. The two sisters better and better friends as the years went on. Friday night Bible studies were wonderful excuses to eat Michelle's amazing cooked food, share stories and laughter, and then have long conversations into the night of the awesome power of God.
Michelle always had a great sense of adventure and youthfulness that excited Hannah! Michelle never seemed to age. One summer, Michelle decided it was time to take a road trip! That was that, and their little crew set off in her minivan, trekking across America visiting friends and family. They made great memories. Michelle even taught Hannah the invaluable lesson of "roadside urination" at 1 in the morning in the cold of the West Virginia air . Hannah could not believe she was relieving herself in such a barbaric way, and without toilet paper! The belly aching laughter that came from them did not help Hannah "aim", either. But at least she had her big sister there to protect her bare hiney against any little curious critter.
And when Michelle went through the valleys of life, Hannah prayed. She did not understand why these things were happening to those she loved so much. But, this was one of many lessons that she needed to learn. God's ways are mysterious to people. But with time, Hannah could finally see the hand of God paint a beautiful picture of redemption and glory using both dark colors and vibrant. When Michelle put full faith in God and moved to Colorado, Hannah had an extremely hard time dealing with the separation. But somehow, between phone calls, loving letters, and random visits, Michelle felt a little closer to her.
During Hannah's sophomore year, Michelle was asked to share her testimony at a young women's retreat. God was able to work it out so that Hannah could attend the weekend for free! Hannah watched Michelle speak in front of dozens of young women. There was something different about her; Hannah could sense it. She watched her sister open up her emotional wounds and scars; she was humble and broken, yet strong. She was broken and beautiful. Tears were not signs of weakness. For the entire weekend, even though she was extremely exhausted, Michelle bravely spoke of her failures and bruises. For once, Michelle did not use her "perfect model" of life to help others. The broken mirror of self worth that Michelle looked into her entire life was replaced by God's healing life water. Michelle used her new reflection to share God's love with everyone that weekend. Hannah could feel the broken glass of her own soul cut deep. She wanted so badly to have healing as well. There were still guarded parts of Hannah's heart. She was learning that she was a lot more like her older sister than she thought.
Hannah will always want to be like Michelle, but things have changed since her younger years of leg wrestling. Instead of trying to copy her sister's huge muscles and incredible endurance, she has decided to try and have a bigger heart...just like her big sister, Michelle.
