Lesler Besler Turns a Quarter

On Wednesday, March 19, Leslie Anne Palmer turned 25 years old. Leslie is my older sister by 14 months. She is delightfully flighty and loves television. Since the day she was born, she's known the latest gossip about every celebrity and knows every soap opera actors' names (living or dead) by heart. She is an incredible dancer and a great actress. Growing up, she would walk around the house doing cheers and shut herself in her bedroom and dance to NSYNC to relieve stress. She is a currently a wife, a thespian (Yes, you can be married and be a thespian), and a preschool teacher in Jackson, MS. She also tans beautifully.

Leslie had many nicknames growing up, mostly given by me and my annoying friends. The best one I coined was LESBIE Anne (lesbian), a play on her name Leslie Anne. I gotta tell ya, she loved it. I mean, she asked me to call her that in public all the time....sike! Butthole was another name I sometimes called her, but that wasn't in fondness. Laurette called her Lesloonta. I mean, it's Laurette, so there's no logical explanation for it. Kelvin called her Cherry Brass. Don't ask. My grandmother called her La La (pronounced lay lay) and still does. One time at a church camp in high school, she got hit on by a fellow camper. It went something like this:

Boy - Hey, what's your name?
Leslie - Leslie.
Boy - No, you're attractive.

Speaking of my hot sister, everywhere we went ALL the guys liked her and not me. Let me tell you, it got so old. I mean, tennis camp, church camp, Summer Scholars, the beach (especially the beach), it was Leslie Leslie Leslie! (She's Marsha; I'm so pathetically Jan). Leslie went to prom with a high school junior when she was in the 8th grade! That should tell you a little about her blooming pattern - EARLY. (Side note: Me, I'm a late bloomer. Still blooming. Since Leslie got all the male attention growing up, I purposed at an early age to develop a killer personality. Check. Since I am still blooming, I am just now reaching my "glory days." Leslie's glory days were in high school and college. It's over for her. But mine have just begun. Look out, everyone, Marty's got the whole package!) So, yeah, Lesler was a total babe. I still meet guys who remember her and are disappointed when she doesn't remember them. In some ways, I'll never escape the camp days of "Leslie, why won't your annoying sister leave us alone?" or "Leslie, why is your sister watching us (kiss) out the window?"

I've been her tag-along my whole life. I've lived in her shadow. But there's no place else I'd rather be. She's my big sister, and I love her very much: bad sense of direction, leaving our plane tickets in a gift shop in the airport, being a cheerleader and a dancer every year in jr. high and high school when I only made it once, winning pageant after pageant....and all.