The Best

The Spanish name for godmother is "madrina."
When my oldest sister, Ofelia, had her first baby, she named my sister, Miriam as the godmother.
When the baby (Annette) started speaking, she called her "Manana" – her two year old version of "madrina."
And the name stuck.

Meet my beautiful sister, Miriam. But we all still call her Manana. (rhymes with "iguana", not with "banana")
She happens to be my daughter, Amy’s, "manana" too.

When I was growing up, I, along with all my pre-teen friends just IDOLIZED her.  She was the poster perfect teenager and in the 60’s could get her hair into a perfect Patty Duke style flip. (I’m not even going to attempt to explain that reference. I guess you just had to be there. =D) 
We all just wanted to be her.  (Okay, so I still want to be her… but that’s not important right now.)

She and her husband, Tony are The Best People. Her daughter, Nicole, (was the one who got to meet Bono and I’m still not quite over that, but that’s not important right now) could be a supermodel – well, if supermodels were as fun as they were pretty.  Not only that, but my sister has the best sense of humor of just about anyone I know.

Witty.  Smart. Beautiful. 

You would totally want her for a friend.  Or even a big sister.  Oh wait…

Aren’t I the lucky one? 😉

 A sister smiles when one tells one’s stories – for she knows where the decoration has been added. 

~Chris Montaigne

Happy Birthday, Manana! You are The Best.