If she were alive today

I never got to know her. No one did. 

If she were alive today, she'd be a week or two into her senior year of high school.  A 17 year old, who would turn 18 on March 3rd and graduate in May. I can't know what she'd be like or what she would look like. I can't know anything about her, but I can imagine.

I'd like to think that she would have Barry's height and I can't imagine her with anything other than his friendly smile. I imagine her much like my older sister Sara, to be an attractive girl who is impervious to how beautiful she actually is. I can imagine my mother hounding her from time to time saying, "Sydney, if you'd just doctor yourself up a little bit and take some care in how you looked, all of the boys would be crazy about you."  I don't think any of that would matter to her though.  I don't see her being superficial at all. Matter of fact the only reason she'd own any makeup at all is because my mom bought it for her. It'd most likely go bad before it was ever opened. Being beautiful and popular wouldn't interest her much, although she would be well liked.  She might not have a ton of friends, but all of her friends would be honest and pure, a lot like I imagine she would be.  As for a boyfriend, I imagine she'd have one. A guy that matched her personality and her demeanor.  A guy who would throw on a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt and an old John Deere baseball cap, blackened on the bill from where he had grabbed it so many times.  Substitute the baseball cap for hair combed straight back in a ponytail and the two would practically match.

I'd like it if she took after my mom and me and enjoyed reading, but I can't help but imagine that she'd think that there was too many interesting things going on in the world around her to get caught up in the world of a novel. I think she'd enjoy classes that dealt with agriculture, environmental science and hands on learning but other than that think school is completely a drag.  Even though I'd preach to her the importance of doing well in school, I think she'd get by with a B's and C's report card. Post graduation, I see her continuing to live at home with my mom and Barry while she took classes at Indian Hills Community College.

Would she be a drinker? One to party?  Seeing how heavily Sara got into it during her teenage years and how I didn't touch it at all, I think Sydney would meet us somewhere in the middle. She'd be too intelligent to ever get behind the wheel of a car after she had drank.  She'd be too intelligent to ever allow someone who was drunk to drive her home either. She'd never allow herself to drink to defenselessness and in the case that someone would try and take advantage of her, she'd have the smarts to always have her protective boyfriend and friends near by.

I can't say what her religious beliefs would be, but with my mom, Barry, Sara and me, I can feel rest assured that her morals and values would be pretty high.  She'd be the nicest girl in the class, but prove that she has a "take no shit from anyone" attitude anytime someone tried to act superior on her. She'd stick up for the nerdy, the ugly and the weak. She'd tell me stories about how girls who think they're really something special were making fun of a slower girl in the class, and how she put them in their place.

I think she'd find me weird, as do most people, but I think we'd have a healthy older brother, little sister relationship. I'd hope that she would appreciate how I'd stick up for her whenever my mother tried to manipulate her. I think she'd come to me for advice on things and trust that what I told her was honest. When I'd go back home to visit, I'd take her out of dinner and we'd share stories of our lives.

That's who I'd like to imagine she'd be, if she were alive today.