We are about to leave on a fun family vacation with my sister and her family. I’m beyond excited and we can hardly wait for the morning. This is going to be like five Sunday night dinners in a row! As I have been preparing things for our trip tomorrow, I have been thinking a lot about my sister.

Marketing has been my career, so I love reviewing how readers get to my blog. One of the top search terms for my site: I love my sister. This is so funny and couldn’t be more perfect for me. Because I do love my sister, so very much.

She is my best friend and my rock. My life would not be complete without her. She is kind, talented, giving, funny and unbelievably strong. I look up to her and admire her for what a great mom, wife, friend and sister she is.

One completely sappy moment we had was shortly after I found out I was pregnant with my second child. She was pregnant with her first and knew she was having a boy. We talked about the gender of my baby and I told her how we’d like to have a boy, too. To that she said, “But, if you have a boy, then Danica won’t have what we have.” We both started crying.

My girls are so lucky that they have each other. Having a sister is one of the greatest gifts in this world. I’m grateful for mine and love her with all of my heart.

Last year, when I was beginning my journey to be more present and making a lot of big changes in my life to do just that, my beautiful sister wrote me a special note. I think this is great advice for all the moms out there:

“I just wanted to send you an email to let you know what a great mom I think you are!  I can’t imagine how hard it is to juggle work, family and friends.  Talking with you today about feeling guilty about how much time you spend with the girls and family made me think of something.  No matter how much time you spend with your kids and family you will still have mommy guilt and think you should spend more time!  Even though I stay home with my kids, I still feel guilty that I’m not doing enough.  I don’t think that feeling will ever go away!  We just need to accept that we are doing the best we can and that is what makes us GREAT moms!  I think we are always striving to be better and do better by our children and that is what makes wonderful mommies.  The moment you think you are at the top of your game and you can’t do any better is when you will just be mediocre!  You have the most beautiful, smart, energetic, intelligent and outgoing girls… they are such a reflection of how wonderful you are and what a great job you do.  I love you so much and admire you even more for the wonderful person and mom that you are.”

I love my sister. If you are lucky enough to have one, too, tell her how important she is to you.