Hillary is the little sister I never had. Except now we have each other. It's just not genetic. But it's marked by the same moments of joy and closeness, of squabbles (some ridiculous, some not) and underneath, the undying love and devotion. Hil, you got me for the rest of our lives.

I first met Hillary when I was brand new to Long Beach. We ran across each other in a few different ways. I think the first was that we were both looking at a room in this crazy lady's house. Smart chica, she saw the flashing red danger signs and chose not to move in. I moved in. (D'oh!) but that's another story...

After that we ran into each other at Portfolio's Coffeehouse, my home away from home here in Long Beach. Turns out we were in the same field. Further conversation revealed we'd faced many of the same struggles before we came to know each other. Although we approached and overcame the struggles differently, we are still united by this bond of deep understanding that's been such a blessed relief to me.

So many adjectives spring to mind: Fun, artistic, slender, beautiful (these are different concepts, but you got 'em both!), dedicated, responsible, wonderfully goofy.....Oh, and if you hear one of us speaking in Spanish on the phone, there's a real good chance we're talking with the other one. Why? I don't know. Cause it's fun and we just evolved that way. Mi hermanita. Gracias por todo que haces por mi, por ser siempre una parte de mi mundo personal, por todo el carino que siempre me ofreces, la paciencia. Gracias por que eres ti.