The Sisterhood

"Having an older sister allows one to remain half child, half woman."


--Author unknown




Now to take a short break from curvy girl topics, in honor of a very special day. Today just happens to be the birthday of probably my favorite person in the whole universe, my older sister.

As an aside, my oldest daughter is currently sobbing in her room because I've had enough and I spazzed out. Entirely mother-f-ing enough. Of the fighting, the mean-spiritedness, the general lack of kindness and affection between my daughters.

And I have to thank my older sister for raising the bar, for giving me such pleasant memories of having grown up with her. She has ruined things for me now, as I sit here in complete fear that my kids will never let themselves get to this point of adulthood when they can finally reap what they have sown. That my oldest daughter will do damage to the one person -- her middle sister -- who will be at the ready, there to worship and respect her.

I have walked in their shoes, I want them to have it all. I want them not to ruin what might be the greatest gift I ever got and have ever given -- sisters.

My sister is now as she was then -- a person who cared first and foremost about her own independence, and secondly about the myriad ways in which you could support her in that. It's not an insult -- in fact, I think she is nodding her head wildly right now. And so, as adolescents and young adults, the only times we really battled was when I failed to put her on the pedestal on which she quite clearly belonged. Once I accepted our respective roles, she has never let me down. She never would.

I could go into all the stories, all the ways in which I love her. But that's another topic for another time, and frankly, it requires no fewer than a thousand handwritten pages.

Mostly I am just grateful that she is in my life, that she has been all along, that we got to share hot summer nights in front of the window fan jumping from bed to bed; and cold winter vacation days making puzzles, roller skating, putting on shows. And everything in between, everything fun and everything worth anything has been because I shared it with you.

Happy birthday, sister. You've been so very good to me.