It started out like any vacation going to the East Coast to
visit my Mom’s family, except my Parents decided to drop a bombshell to my
sister Kim and myself. My Mom was
pregnant. I reacted like Luke Skywalker
in
TESB ….”Nooooooooo, that is not true, that is not possible”. And of course adding, okay that is
gross. It crushed my 13 yrd old
brain. I already hard enough time with
one my sister Kim, now I have to deal with another sibling. Don’t get me wrong Kim and I got along great,
well we had our moments. I might have
practiced my
Ultimate Warrior gorilla press from time to time on her. But I
digress, my Mom was pregnant and we were going to have another Hoffman in the
mix.
Fast forward a couple months, I got a new room out of the deal
(sweet) and moved me downstairs to planet
Hoth.
Yea, it was always cold downstairs, summer, winter it didn’t matter. This was really happening, I going to have a new
baby sister. The day finally came and my
Mom woke me up and said going to have a baby, now granted my Mom has also woke
me up from deep slumber and said your sister Kim is dying come up stairs….that
is a whole another story, but Kim just had trouble breathing. In a couple hours, I was going to be a big
bro.
On March 10, 1990,
Joy Lynn Hoffman was born. I was exactly
14 ½ years old and it was life changer.
It really brought our family together and it was a whole new world for
everyone. The selfish teenager was like
this going to cramp my style, lets just say right off the bat I didn’t have any
style, but in my head I did.
Babysitting duties entailed and an almost every time I
watched Joy she would always give me a surprise…thus the nickname “Stinky” was
developed. I called her Stink for quite
sometime. Granted, now I days I try not
embarrass her to much, but hey that was what Big Bros are for.
I have always, always been a big kid at heart, but Joy let
me be a kid again. Whether it was going
to see the latest Disney movie or playing with Polly Pockets but I drew the
line at N’Sync, Kim and Dad had to handle that one J.
I think because I was older, I can remember more. I remember a lil bit with Kim growing up,
mostly our completely dorkiness, but with Joy I remember quite a bit. One of my favorite Joy’s story is one day my
best buddy Jake and I were watching TV, just chilling downstairs and Joy is like
3 or 4yrs old playing with her toys. Her
toys were having a very intense conversation and she finally said “Simba (from Disney Lion King), you really piss me off”. I just look at Jake and I am like, yep I am
going to hear about this one later.
They said kids are sponges and Joy is no exception, the big
brother was rubbing off on her. I think
that is why today she is one of the coolest people I know.
When I met Jen and things were progressing, I was really
worried about Joy and wondering if she will get along with Jen. It has been great blessing seeing Jen and Joy
bond and as I grew to love Jen. It has
equally enjoyable seeing Joy also developed a relationship with Jordan. Jordan
was the younger brother Joy never had.
It was fun watching them grow up together. Now she has full reign to pick on Jordan
like no other Aunt can.
14 ½ years is a big gap between siblings and some might say
that Joy was a oops. I beg to differ, my
parents picked a perfect name for my sister, Joy. She is a true joy. She has the most sweetest spirit and very,
very tender heart. There are many, many
other stories I can share about Joy, but maybe I will save that for another
time.
I just wanted to say Happy 22nd Birthday
Joy!!!!!!! I love you so much!!!!!!!!
