I’m finally moved into the new house and am no longer totally boxed in in every room. There are still many boxes to unpack, but my office is set up. My kitchen is getting there. Found the coffeepot! And I have a place to sleep at night. So nice to have my computer set up so I can start feeling like a writer again. In the meantime, I’m still resurrecting older blog posts to share. Enjoy this one about the special bonds between sisters.
A wonderful birthday card that my older sister sent me one year had that wordage – Sisters… Forever Friends – on the cover with this image:
The inside message read, “I wouldn’t have missed being friends with you for anything in the world.” Then my sister added, “This could be us years ago. You always had the cutest pony tail.”
Even though I don’t remember having the cutest pony tail, I do remember those summer days eating watermelon on the front porch and having seed-spitting contests. The flies and bees would swarm around us as juice dripped down our faces and arms and splattered on the steps. Mother would make us hose off by the side of the house before we could go back inside, and that was another part of the fun. Who could manage to only squirt off her hands and legs when the water was running fast and your sister wasn’t?
Of course, that didn’t matter. Not in the summertime when we could simply stay outside the rest of the afternoon, wet clothes no longer an issue by suppertime.
My sister and I had lots of fun playing together outside, but inside was a whole different story. We shared a room, and once she put tape down the middle lest my mess somehow invade her neatness. That way when Mother said to go clean our room, my sister could give me a smug smile and go back to the book she was reading. Her side of the room was always neat, and it always delighted me to slide something across that strip of tape when she wasn’t looking.
Once I pushed most of my mess under her bed because there was no room under my bed. You should have heard her screech when Mother came to check to see if the room was clean.
Our mother now lives with my sister in Michigan, and when I go to visit, Mother likes to remind us that there were plenty of other times we did not get along. I look at my sister, and it’s funny. I don’t remember those times.
What I remember are the good times, and that is appropriate. I don’t think it matters to my sister at all that I once took her blouse and was wearing it when I played football with the neighbor kids and ripped the blouse. And I don’t care at all that she would tattle on every little thing I did wrong. What I care about now is the wonderful woman my sister has become. Sure she has faults, she organizes her junk drawer for Pete’s sake, but she has a huge heart and really is one of my best friends.
So I imagine the lives of these two little girls in the picture. I can see them playing in the hose, sharing rooms and vacations and special events, and building memories that will bind them together forever as friends.
NOTE: This was originally written as an article for Gallivant Press back in 2012. Many things have changed in my life and my sister’s. Our mother is now in heaven. So is my husband. We have lost other family members, too. What is still the same is the bond my sister and I share. It continues to run deep and strong.