I wrote a Love Thursday blog last year called "Hangin' with my best friend" that feartured a shot of Mark and I deep in conversation in a hammock and talked about the ties that bind us ... strong and resilient ties ... that keep us functioning as parents smoothly and with very little friction, and continue to provide a rich environment for ever-growing love.

I could not be more pleased to know that Sam and Cj have a similar relationship ... sans the two-adults-married-to-each-other-thing.

Brother and sister, for sure, but best friends, too, and as dedicated to that relationship as to the first. Concern for feelings, an eagerness to share joy (if not always toys), a need to communicate just about everything, a respect for opinions, an appreciating of tastes, a deep understanding of needs, wants, fears, likes and dislikes, all add up to a bond that goes even deeper than brother/sister, certainly deeper than blood ties guarantee.

From before they ever met, Sam and Cj seemed 'meant to be'; as Baby Sister transformed Sam into Big Brother, and a pattern of caring developed while she was still only an image on the computer and the idea of a little girl, their future relationship was founded.

They've been together for almost two years now ... Cj joined us in late July of 2005 ... and there's not been a day when they haven't looked to each other for something ... reassurance, a laugh, a confirmation of some evaluation, a treat shared, a song sung together.

They need no prompting to climb into the hammock together, to hug, to give kisses good-bye or good night; they do all this often, and on their own and because they want to.

Interestingly, Cj never calls Sam by anything other than 'Brother', and all her references to him are addressed the same. It's almost as if the title sums him up for here ... there may be others called "Sam" in the world, but this one is so special.