The Day of Recognition

I’m a few days late for National Siblings Day but I’m going to acknowledge it belatedly. I know these days are all made up celebrations and we should technically be appreciating everything and everybody all the time. I try. But, even when there’s a designated day, time gets away from me. It doesn’t take away from the fact that I want to give a shout out to my sister. Plus this picture makes me laugh as it looks like I’m climbing in through the window.

She was a surprise baby, born 15 years after me, and a total shock to my only-child mentality. It was weird. My friends made gross comments about my parents getting busy. I had to babysit on weekends RIGHT when I got my license and felt free. It was a lot to endure. But she was a fun baby. She would zoom around the clubhouse of our mini golf course very fast in her wheeled walker (I don’t even think they make those kind any more due to safety). At three years old, sitting in her car seat, she sweetly told my college friend that she “needed to go to Kmart to get some new shoes because she couldn’t go to school lookin’ like an asshole.” So, there was that.

I sent her tiny Vanderbilt t-shirts to wear while I was away at school. She mailed me drawings from kindergarten and first grade. And when I graduated, she was my biggest fan.

Then that summer before I left for law school, when she was only six, our mom died. Right in front of us. Everything changed. My dad spiraled and his health declined over the next 10 years. I helped from out of state, paying for dance lessons, sending clothes, but it wasn’t always a great situation. She endured a lot and I had to take on a more parental role in decision making.

Then, when she was 16, our father died. She had to move from her home in Florida up to us in Maryland and into our house with a newborn and a toddler and start 11th grade in a new place. We became her legal guardians and the relationship became even more parental.

We made lemons out of the lemonade situation and despite various bumps, she soared. She graduated from an amazing college and has found so much success, joy, and love.

Now (and for the past eight or so years), we really have entered the best part of our sibling relationship: we are actual SISTERS!! Equals. Friends. We vent to, seek advice from, and lean on each other in a way we never could before and it’s wonderful. I feel so lucky. It wasn’t the typical sibling path, but I think it has made our experience rich.

She’s a good egg.