what my sister wrote

***This post wasn't written by me. My sister, she wrote this today to mark her 24th birthday. And she made my heart swirl with happiness reading it. I'm so proud of the woman she's become.

Look at that,

I wake up this morning smiling,

because yes, I'm like a 6 year old when it comes to my birthday.

Today is my birthday; and i'm 24.

If I'm writing this today it's (I think) because I want to voice out the fact that I love my life.

I stayed in bed this morning, 30 min, it took me 30 min to look back to when I can remember till today.

Yes, I've been through horrible situations,

moments that broke my heart,

moments that took away my childhood,

moments that I carry around with me, every minute, every second of every day.

This last year scared me. May 31st 2013, was the 12th anniversary of my mom's death. 12th. 

That means I was starting on living more than I lived with her.

This is where the countdown stopped. From this moment on I can't say my mom was here for half of my life anymore.

Loosing all of these important people after loosing my mom, broke me, it teared me into pieces,

it broke my family, I felt like everything was crumbling down.

And the more i got older the harder it was, to accept everything,

The more I could see the sadness in Karim's eyes, the more my heart would stop,

The more I could read Yasmina's sadness the more my heart would stop,

The more I could see my father struggling the more my heart would stop.

Getting older I realized I had a job and a place in my family,

I realized that I live for these 3 people and they live for me.

I realized that yes I may just be a dust in the universe,

I am just one person, in a tiny country,

I can't change the world (even though I would love to)

I can't even change what is happening in the country I grew up in, my country.

But I can change their world and they can change mine.

I can make a difference in their life and oh my! they can make a difference in mine.

I look around, and see my father, who gave up his life for his 3 little babies and he did great.

I look around and see my sister, oh this woman, believe me, everything she touches becomes gold.

I look around and see my brother. My soul mate, my evil twin.

I look around and see my friends, these people that I call family, this perfectly dysfunctional family that we chose for ourselves, and I suddenly can't imagine my life without them.

I look around and realize that i don't need to change the world,

I have my own, little perfect world,

and i love it.

You people, thank you for being part of my world, thank you for making my world magic,

I'm 24 years old, and my heart didn't stop.

Instead my heart is really F***ing happy.