Talking with a friend recently, I realized that this is indeed my last year as a twenty-something. Which, obviously the memory sector of my brain will be hit the hardest by age if I'm already forgetting how old I really am. And the age itself doesn't really bother me. I refuse to give those silly numbers power, but what does make me gasp is how the time has flown by. And I have decided that to let anymore time go by without telling the people I care for most how much they mean to me would be wasteful of my last few months as a twenty-somthing. So to celebrate the closing of my second decade on this planet I will be writing about the ones I love who helped me along the way to be the person I am now. After all, the nicest things I say about the people I love most shouldn't just be at their funerals. Life goes by too quickly, and I want the ones I care about to know that they matter to me. And the first lucky winner is ...my sister! So, this one's for you Jenn.
Why Sisters Are The Best
If you are lucky enough to be a girl and also have a sister then you know that it means, whether you like it or not, there is someone on this earth very similar to you, genetically or otherwise. And while that doesn't sound so amazing....let me explain.
Having a sister means that you had another female in the house to go to other than mom. That you had a different but maybe more understanding female perspective on hair or clothes or makeup or boys. It means that there is someone who shares your life point of view. Who grew up with the same parents in the same house living on the same income making things work day in and day out just like you did. It means that even though responsibilities might have fallen differently for each of you, you were probably raised similarly. With the same foundations. With the same cornerstones. They took the same how-to course in Family as you and inheritly understand your roots. Sisters not only know your back story, they know how you FELT about your story. Because girls major in Feelings by nature. And your sister is the first female, who is not your mother, that you learn to relate to. She is your only classmate in the school of Being A Girl until you are brave enough to find other suitable substitutes. And if you are as lucky as I was to have an older sister then you know that you had someone to check you before you wrecked you{rself}. Someone to pull the plug on the bad ideas before they were REALLY bad ideas. Someone to talk you down from the oh so dramatic ledge you worked yourself on to. Someone to provide the first examples of girl power. Someone to push you to think again. Find a better way. Compromise. Share. Accept. Relate. Empathize. Sacrifice. Accept or offer help when needed. And someone to teach you how to love another female through their faults. That giving up and walking away after an argument or disagreement proves to be a lonely option. That a difference in opinion or position doesn't make her better or lesser....it just makes her different.
Sisters are the best because, if they are anything like my mine, they teach us and in return learn from us, in our earliest years, how to one day be a woman who opens up and shares with other women. How to band together for a common good. How to get past differences and help each other. How to see past the surface layer, the one we all put on when we leave our homes, and find the true value in each other. How to forgive and accept that we are all women doing the best we can each day. Such valuable lessons in a world where we are tempted daily to do the exact opposite. So this one goes out to all sisters, "big" and "little" and all of the wonderful in-betweens....and especially to my sister, Jennifer.
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