Skip to main content

My sisters keeper

In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips!
“Here” – my sister says as she gives me a cup of hot chocolate. “I added marshmallows.”
“Thanks” I say as I sit up in bed to drink wiping off the tears.
“Maybe this will help” She leaves the room and within minutes comes back with her own pillow and lays down right next to me. Hands me a box of tissues and turns on the TV and we proceed to watch an old Fred Astaire movie.

She isn’t one of many words. But this is her way of saying I’m here for you. Growing up with her had its ups and downs. But I have to say moments like these I wouldn’t trade her for the world.
We are very different her and I. Six years apart to be exact. She’s not emotional or an over analyzer. She’d rather you not hug her or kiss her. It’s her way. She’s always been that way. But in every tragedy of my life she is the one person that keeps me grounded.

In the past two years she’s not only taken the role of my sister but also has become like a second mother to me.  Getting sick took not only a toll on me but in my family. In her in particular. She’s become a caregiver and nurse; who shifts her time everyday so that the load of a chronic illness is not a burden on just one person.
She slept on the floor of the hospital for a whole year somehow proving she does love me. To me
she is the gift to my heart. Both a defender, and a listener, and a conspirator. A sharer of life’s greatest moments and its greatest sorrows.

I once read a card that said: At times it feels like you’re the gum stuck in the bottom of my shoe. “I didn’t ask for you. I don’t know how you got there, but I can’t get rid of you so I might as well live with you…” And it’s true having a sister you know comes with many quarrels and annoyances that would sink any friendship but never a sisterhood. No, sisters stick together through thick and thin under an unannounced loyalty pact.  Sticking up for each other at all times. No one can pick on her, no one but you.
The gift of a sister is a treasure beyond compare. When mom and dad don’t understand a sister always will. She teaches you how to double team your parents and how to get away with anything. The ties between sisters will always be some of the strongest bonds. And though growing up she would break, borrow, tell on, and monopolized the bathroom making you late all the time… you love her unconditionally.

“She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you’re smiling even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she’s the reason you wish you were an only child” –Barbara Alpert

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love never returns void

Many years ago I wrote a piece on a dear friend of mine. At the time her story unraveled with a heartbreaking ending. But if anything remains true from that story is that she is and will continue to be the eternal optimistic… who always, always believes in love. She paced back and forth, looking at the door and back at her watch every few minutes. She was nervous and her hands were sweating. Finally to catch a breath she sits down and lets out a deep sigh. And she closes her eyes. It’s surreal to her how years ago this was the exact same spot she last saw him. Where he promised he loved her and that love was everlasting. The last place before their story crashed and unraveled. She never thought shed be back here again after the way it ended. Years had passed and life and time had taken their toll on their story. One she thought was signed and sealed, shelved on a book case and had become dusty with time. She got up at the sound of the announcer saying the flight had arrived. She l...
6 comments
Read more

How to flip tortillas without burning your hand

It was a bright and early morning when I woke up to the sound of my alarm and my sister opening the curtains wide letting in a little too much sunlight. I wanted desperately to turn the other way and sleep in a few more minutes but even on vacation she was a stickler for time. So I rolled out of bed reluctantly, I got dressed, and we headed for the days adventures; snorkeling first on our list. We got to the dock and after boarding instructions we boarded the vessel that would take us to a near island with coral reefs. Finally at our destination the boat anchored and we were handed our gear. So flippers and all people one by one jumped into the vast ocean uninhibited. I did too. I’d forgotten how rough the Pacific was. A greater part of World War II had been fought here. Somehow the waters still reeked of vengeance. Except I forgot I could not swim, and at that moment even how to float. So I was instantly submerged by the undertow and the lapping of the waves. I fought to catc...
Post a Comment
Read more

The magnitude of history

It’s my usual Sunday night, me rummaging through notes and notebooks, editing and writing. I stood up and went into my writing closet. Realizing that the binder I wanted was at the very top, I stood on a stool and yanked at the bottom of the stack. Swiftly it all came toppling over me, hitting me in the head in the process. Papers and folders scattered everywhere. I grunted. I began picking them up one by one when I ran across a manila folder gently titled “WEDDING” in block letters, with a red heart sticker following the word. I’d forgotten I was planning a wedding. I slid slowly to the floor till I was sitting and I began to go through its contents. There were lists of first dance songs and father/daughter songs; clippings of flower arrangements, swatches of fabrics, notebook entries of budgets, and location listings. There it all was. Very detailed and organized. All I ever dreamed of, all I thought I ever wanted. And on the last page, on the back cover of the folder, a pasted...
2 comments
Read more