Ten Things I Love About My Sister Meladee ... In No Particular Order

1. I'm 43, Hali's 45 and Mel's 52, and she has never stopped being the best big sister, ever.

2. Mel always answers the phone saying "Yellow!" Not, "hi," "hello," or "what's up," but "Yellow!" complete with initial cap and exclamation point.

3. When I was 7, Mel saved me from drowning. The swimming instructor at summer camp pushed me into the deep end to make me swim, Meladee saw me flailing and jumped into the pool and rescued me.

4. Nearly all of my musical tastes were strongly influenced by the hours I sat listening to records with Mel and performing nearly Talmudic exegesis on the lyrics.

5. When I was 11, Mel took me and Hali to see Tommy at the Syosset UA 150. I wanted to sit through it again, but Hali didn't. So we went to Ransom Beach in Bayville and swam in Long Island Sound in our dungarees. Oddly enough, Mom wasn't pissed when we got home, soaking wet and covered in sand.

6. No matter how crappy things get, Mel always finds something humorous to say. Not happy-funny, but bitingly-funny. Think Dennis Leary, only more sarcastic.


7. After spending so many years ignoring politics, she's become the real political junkie of the family.


8. Mel is more stubborn than the collective living population of Capra Hircus.


9. Mel attributes her paranoia to Romper Room. No kidding.

10. Mel can be a real bitch, and proud of it. But she's never a bitch to me.