“From the day she first broke me out of my crib, we have been creating havoc together,” one applicant wrote about her sister.
“No one in the world gets the quintessential me like she does,” another wrote. “We laugh to the point of tears and inability to breathe.”
From coast to coast and far-flung spots around the world, writers sent in funny, joyful, touching essays about their sisters — and soul sisters. In all, Nickie’s Prize for Humor Writing drew 263 original essays from writers in 39 states, […]

“Step away from the gnome!” I threatened.
We were in the attic. My eyes hurled daggers as my husband picked up the two-foot-tall garden gnome and headed for the “toss” pile. The gnome was a little raggedy and begged for a new paint job. Dumpy, as I called him (the gnome, not my husband), was one of those oddball finds that seem so great at the time then mutate into one of those, “What was I thinking?” episodes of my life. […]

We built a beautiful post-and-beam home with no interior walls. Yup, it was all one room except for the bathroom. We could sit in our first-floor living room and look up over the rail at our bedroom and even farther up at another little loft with my writing desk, keyboard and my dad’s rocking chair. We could throw dirty dishrags up over the balcony toward the laundry area. We could drop a sweater down for whomever was cold. […]

I have always been considered a dim bulb, except for the fact that I married a bright woman, who proves it by making me the one to risk electrocution whenever a light bulb needs to be changed.
So fearful am I when it comes to wattage that I was shocked — shocked! — to find myself helping out with electrical work being done at our house.
The track lighting in the family room had to be dismantled and replaced with high hats. […]

I’m sure you’ve seen the bumper sticker that reads, “Lord please help me to become the person my dog thinks I am.” Yeah, that too, but I’d rather be the person my son believes I am. He is 7 years old.
I could never be the “world’s best mother.” I couldn’t if I tried. Sure, motherhood has got to be the most rewarding, fulfilling, but incredibly and insanely difficult job every imaginable.
There are so many things to take into consideration. […]