Claire.

Claire Elise Volzke.
My lovely, wonderful, whimsical, gregarious, fantastic, talented, gorgeous little sister.

She is all those things and more!

Claire was born on April 11th 1997.
That was the day I became a middle child...
And the day I finally had my dreams come true of someone to actually play with.
I just wanted someone to have a tea party with. And Claire begrudgingly would play tea party with me. But really Barbies  was our thing. Even though we would do Cinderella and somehow she always got the good Ken.
Because lets be honest Owen wasn't really the playing type for me.

She has always been sure in her skin.
And that's one of the many things I really admire about her.
She has always had this confidence about her on knowing exactly who she is.
I've never been comfortable in my skin so I wish I had that trait.


Shes also freaking talented.
Claire originally started playing violin in 5th grade.
Moved up and showed how much of a contender she was and how talented she is as a musician.
And then when time came around to be in marching band she didn't shy away.
She took up melophone which if you didn't know is marching french horn.
Now before that she had never played a wind instrument and she just takes up the melophone because why not??
And then she was playing french horn.
And now she is in chamber orchestra on violin and wind ensemble on french horn and melophone marching band section leader.
She is crazy talented and I admire how great and driven she is every day.

She never gives up and is able to handle herself with such grace.
I kind of free she should have gotten the middle name of Grace rather than me because she is so much more graceful than I am.
I've can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen Claire cry.
Shes a tough little cookie and rarely ever cries.
One of our favorite stories about Claire was when she was probably 2 or 3 Owen was bothering her and being the spitfire she is she turned to him in her adorable voice and said "you weiner".
Being the third child you have to be a bit of a fighter or you are going to be trampled.
I pretty much cry at least weekly.
She is able to bottle it up and let it out when needed. She can control it.


Claire is pretty much the definition of cool.
She has the humility that Owen does not have and the confidence I do not have and made it into something so much bigger.
She never had an awkward stage or at least if she did it was for maybe a few months.

Shes also a hell of a lot tougher than i am.
When I went off to college just after mom was diagnosed she was the only child left at home with the parentals.
She cared for mom so well and she has this tenderness for people.
She had to grow up a bit that year because neither O or I were home. She had to take care of mom sometimes alone. But she always knew what mom wanted or needed.
She is going into social work in college and I know she will change the world.

She has never let anything stop her.
If she wants something she goes after it.
She challenges herself every day and is constantly busy.
And yet it still seems like she could take on the world and it still wouldn't be that big of deal to her.
She is never over dramatic and she is always fair.


I immensely admire my beautiful little sister Claire.
I love being her big sister and being able to gush about how incredible she is.
I love that she loves unconditionally.
I love that she is so driven.
I love how she gracefully handles change.
I love how talented she is.
I love that she and I have become closer in the past few years.
I love that we have a relationship where we can just go to target for a random target run.
I love knowing she is going to make an impact on the world.

I love my brilliant little sister to the moon and back.
I love her so much
And I miss her so much too.
But I will see her in a few weeks when she graduates from high school.
I love that I was blessed with a little sister as wonderful and successful as Claire.
I love that I share the same potential set of DNA as she does.
I love that she has hazel eyes.


So my dear Claire, happy late 18th birthday my wonderful.
Here's to many more trips around the sun gorgeous!