I was seventeen years old when she came into my life. A nearly bald-headed baby with one strand in the middle of her head as long as my own. Two years later, her sister, would come along too. I am the oldest of four children. Each of us very different in skills and talents. Yet, we have the same fierce independent streak that mom and dad raised us to have. My brother and I acted like true siblings. The age difference with my two sisters gave me a very different role. I was built-in nanny. When they had nightmares, they would come into my room and crawl into bed. I toted them everywhere I went. Just like my parents, I watched them in dance recitals and school functions. I watched them grow up into young ladies and watching Alex, the middle girl, make her way to boot camp for the US Navy. The Navy stole my brother many years ago. When I read his essay on what it meant to be a patriot in the United States, I had the inkling that we may not be able to stop him...