My sister, Heather, is an amazing woman. A tenured chemistry professor by the age of 34. A mother of an amazingly adorable 1 year old boy. Wife of an equally awesome husband — also a chemistry professor at the same university. Sports fanatic. Action movie lover. Amateur snowboarder.

Oh, and she also has stage IV colon cancer. Which totally blows, but she’s a strong woman who’ll get through this.

And she’s probably the hugest Star Wars fan you’ll ever meet.

Ok, so that’s a loaded statement. But I can tell you this: ever since I can remember, Star Wars has been a core part of her life. The movies, the reissued movies, action figures, posters, Halloween costumes, PEZ dispensers — you name it. And, of course, she loves Carrie Fisher — not only for her role as the princess of the double-bun hairdo, but for her candid wit and writing. If you’ve read her books or seen Postcards from the Edge, you know that Fisher’s gone through some shit. But she’s always kept a sense of humor about it. Much like my sister, Fisher’s a survivor.

So when Heather learned Carrie Fisher was appearing in town in her autobiographical show Wishful Drinking, I wrangled up some tickets and she hopped on the Megabus. The show was a riot (see my writeup on Chicago Like a Local here), and Heather loved seeing her idol onstage, in person.

But the evening wasn’t finished. As an added surprise, I led my perpetually shy sister to the stage door to meet Ms. Fisher. And wouldn’t you know it, the moment the stage door opened and Ms. Fisher emerged, Heather uncharacteristically forced her way into the crowd with her copy of Fisher’s “Wishful Drinking” at the ready — with a pen! Apparently she was anticipating this all along:

Dreams do come true.