Then there is Shari. Oh I could go on and on for pages about her. Shari is my best friend. My sister no matter what our blood line is. We shared a room for 12 years. If you were to ask me who I looked up to the most growing up, it would be Shari. Smart, beautiful (physically and spiritually). She was everything I wanted to be. I still look up to her in almost every aspect. Shari was “whoops” growing up. She was constantly breaking something, an arm, a leg, her ankle. I just remember her constantly either being on crutches, or having some sort of a cast.

Shari is tough, she can definitely handle herself in most situations, and so full of live and love, you can’t help but love her.

As I said, we shared a room for 12 years. Being only a year and a half apart, it made sense. We had our fair share of fights, but all in all, we had fun. No matter what anyone says about her being my step/adopted sister, we are sisters though and though. I’m closer to her and any of my sisters and brothers. When Mike and my mom got divorced, Shari of course went with Mike. We still kept in touch.

The funny thing about Shari is, she was always the quiet one. Good in school and such. Mike and my mom (so I’m told), used to argue about who would be a teenage pregnancy. Mike used to say it would be me, and mom would say it would be Michelle. Then all of a sudden, “whoops!” It was Shari. She had Lysa Sunshine when she was a senior in high school. She did finish high school and was a single mom for 7 years.

Shari is punk rock on so many different levels, and she is a terrific mother. In May 2001, Shari married Andrew Fortune, who adopted Lysa as his own. Lysa knows who her daddy is, and she knows who her biological dad is. She sees Josh (her biological dad) and knows his family well. But, Andrew is her daddy. He’s the one that is there for her. Josh isn’t there by his own choice. In July of 2002, Shari and Andrew had their first child, Leora Sweet Fortune. They are all enthralled by her.

Shari teaches Sunday School, and is very involved with her church. Lysa just told me recently that Shari let her shave her head underneath, and when she puts her hair in pigtails, she thinks of me. How cool is that? Lysa is only 8 years old, how cool of a mom does that make Shari? Very cool. She knows how it is too be punk rock, and she still is!