The Birds Sing For You

and the morning is for you/ yes and the air is free / yes the world spins for you / and your positivity

In my earliest and oldest memory, I am two years old, tucking into a packed dinner of porridge. The room is warmly lit but dim — perhaps it is evening? My father is standing by my mother, who is resting and sitting upright on a hospital bed, arms cradled. My baby sister has just been born!

Exactly twenty years later, that baby is a beautiful girl, one of the most determined, fun, thoughtful and fiercely independent people I know. We have completely different temperaments, but there is no soul closer to my own than hers, no one who knows my quirks and predicts my behaviour more accurately than she.

Being an older sister is the only role I’ve ever known from the beginning of my memory, and I’m so glad I get to be hers and Alex’s. Happy 20th birthday Lauren <3