Adventures of Jen and Coco: Friend of the Month: Samantha

Ok, so she's not just my friend, she's my baby sister! On April 15, Samantha turned 13 (I know right? Can you believe it?!?!?) so April is fitting to be "her" month. Samantha Dawn Powers was born April 15, 1997. I was nearly 15 years old when she was born, so there's quite an age gap between us. Even so, we still seem to remain close. I have always had a special bond with this kid. It's almost like she's my own. Like a second mother of some sort. Maybe this is why I still don't feel the need to have kids yet :) Samantha is the baby of the family, so because of this, her lifestyle has always been VERY different than mine. While we had very little when I came around, my parents were doing quite well by the time she came along. I've never really had a problem with this, I'm more happy about it than anything. I think she's a wonderful kid and deserves it! There were always plenty of pics-of course there were, she had mom taking them, and me too! We made sure to spoil her with TONS of clothes and adorable outfits. I have yet to meet another baby with more clothes than this kid had. I'm pretty sure for the first 9 years of her life she was completely outfitted in everything Gymboree, Carters, and Baby Gap had to offer. And being the weirdo that I am, I had to make sure all of these outfits were properly documented. There are pics everywhere of her in dresses, hats, shoes, sunglasses, with no where to go. I just wanted to dress her up, take pics, and then move on to the next outfit. I think a part of me doing this was because I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, being so much older I was scared I'd miss out on her life once I had to leave for college.

Leaving for college was MUCH more difficult than I thought it would be. Samantha was only about 3 years old when I left, and Ill never forget her running through the hallways of my dorm. Everything was all good until everyone left, and then I lost it. I was so upset thinking about how I left her and my lil bro and how much I knew I would miss out on being so far away. Lucky for me, it wasnt that far, and once I learned how to get back home, I came back pretty often.

I've always been very protective of this kid (and her big bro too!). I remember when she broke her femur, and I wasnt told about it for a good 4 days, becuase my parents knew it was exam time at school, and they were worried I would have either failed them or bailed on them to go see her in the hospital. And they were right. But when I found out that she'd been hurt for that long without me knowing, I LOST IT. I was not a happy camper. Looking back I understand why they did, because I for sure would'nt have worried about school. It took quite a while for her to recover because the break was so bad, requiring surgery, pins, etc, and since she was so young. I was so glad to see her finally get better.

Samantha has had MANY nicknames given by me over the years, and they all have long ridiculous stories to go with them. I'm pretty sure each of my friends calls her something different, because they all know her by different names. I'll spare her the first embarrassing one...hehehe...but we also have Beanie baby, Bean, Massa, Passa Massa, Passa Massa Bean, and so on...It's ridiculous. Sam is my lil Mini Me, she was more so when she was little, with the princess stuff, but she's still like her big sis in the sense that she's a lil diva. Samantha is unlike me in a few ways too, she is very creative, and very artsy. She also likes musicals, and that is not something that I share with her. In face whenever Elisabeth starts talking about musicals, plays, etc, I always suggest to her to go with Samantha, because there's no way I'll be going hehe :) Samantha also has her own awesome style, I love it!

This kid is fabulous for so many reasons, and I love her SO MUCH. She's one of my favorite people in the universe. Love you Bean! xoxoxoxoxo