Leave of Absence

I know a few of you have noticed that I haven't been posting for a little while. There are a lot of funky things going on in my life. That last trip to Washington didn't turn out so great, and for legal reasons I'm not allowed to talk about it quite yet. I also got the news that my sister is now engaged to a guy she has known for three weeks and wants to get married by December 1st. Woah! This isn't her first engagement by any means, but it's the scariest. Each new one was the scariest. I love my sister more than anything in the world. She's the only sibling I have. I grew up with her. Until her own kids live with her for 19 years there will be no one on this earth that has been with her longer or more than I have. Even parents aren't there for their children as much as siblings are. I was there for her in sleep, play, school, home, and EVERYTHING else. She does have a few faults though. She's never lived on her own for the first. Neither has this guy she wants to marry. She's not even responsible for her own finances yet. No car, no insurance, no money, no house... I could go on and on. Being engaged isn't the problem to me. It's the big rush that is baffling me. Why the hurry??? He still owes the military more time, so he's not going anywhere. Supposedly he's Mormon, so for his family it's appropriate for him to marry at 21 years old. (They're both 21.) If he's so in tune to his religion they why aren't they getting married in a church or in the presence of a minister/pastor?! They also say they want to get the military's medical insurance. If he's getting out then they'll have to pay for it anyhow. My sister already has insurance through the family, so that doesn't make sense either. My sister has been wanting to get outta the nest for quite a while. She's asked to move in with me a few times over the past three years that I've lived here. Every time I tell her that it's okay, but she'll have to pay half the bills, provide her own transportation and get a job. When I tell her this she flips and says I'm trying to control her, so she might as well live with Mom if I'm going to have so many rules! What??? I guess she thinks this guy is going to support her and she can continue to rack up debt and live like a princess. She doesn't even know what the generic brand of toilet paper feels like or the taste of the cheap cheese. I could go on and on about all this, but I've got to breathe after all. Okay. Okay. Here's a picture of Lilly I took yesterday. She lost five of her baby teeth last night. I didn't realize how big she's gotten until I started looking through old pictures of her. I have one of her sitting by the back door. She used to be shorter than the step. I had to pick her up just to get her in and out of the door. Yesterday she even jumped onto the couch all by herself. She's much more hairy than she used to be too. Her roots are even starting to show on her head. My baby is growing up! I need to get working on going through all the mail I've got piled up for me. It looks like there are some swaps waiting for me to discover! I'll be sure to post as much of them as I can. And...that's it!