If I Didn't have a Sister...

If I didn't have a sister?

Well, I would just have a brother then. 

There are a catrabillion quotes about Sisters…but shown below are the ones that pertain to us…and believe me when I say it was harder than you think…because we were not typical Sisters by any means.  She always wanted to play beauty shop with me, uh no.  We didn't go prom dress shopping together, hell we didn't do much of any shopping really.  We didn't share make-up or stories about boys.  She didn't tell me how hard it would be to fall in love and have my heart broken.  We didn't go get mani’s and pedi’s together, and still haven’t.  She very rarely comes to me to vent about anything.  We work together, which most siblings could not.  We tried to manage a business together and I never felt I could live up to her expectations.  She had children at the same age I was going to college to get a degree.  Our lives, from very early on went in very different directions.  She was the first born, the most spoiled and had the most pictures taken when we were little.  We didn't really become close until I moved to Minnesota…but our value to one another became abundantly clear on a very, very cold January night in 1991, when I hit rock bottom and she came and got me.  That’s the kind of shit you don’t forget.  Or on Mothers Day of 2011, when she stopped breathing.  All the similarities and differences simply go out the door when you really need each other.  In the event I ever fall and break something again, I know now NOT to call her first.  If I am having trouble in a relationship, she is the last person I go to, because she still thinks I will fall in love with a man and have a big elaborate wedding.  There are things she doesn't tell me and vice versa and probably because we don’t want to hear it…it being one another’s feelings about it.  We are very lucky that we have a respect and understanding with one another, but believe me it took many years.  I am like mom; she is like dad, in every single way.  She is a terrible hugger and dancer and singer for that matter… We don’t have a conventional relationship perhaps that is why it works.  For whatever reason, I am just glad it does.

I went to a visitation a few weeks ago for a young girl whose life ended far too soon.  And I knew it was going to be hard for Nancy and her husband, but it didn't hit me how hard it was going to be for Alissa’s sister until I saw her.  I can’t imagine losing my sister.  Not to Cancer, not to anything.  But for the brief moment that I spoke to Kimbra, I realized how empty and lost she must feel at that moment, knowing her sister wasn't coming back.

Let me get one thing perfectly clear.  I don’t always like Sister.  But I will always, always love her.  And will probably always be her biggest fan.

Happy Birthday Sister…

 “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 are 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.”

“Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship.”

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.”

“Sisters, as you know, also have a unique relationship. This is the person who has known you your entire life, who should love you and stand by you no matter what, and yet it's your sister who knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most.” 

Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life. 

If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.  

Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five.  ~Pam Brown

How do people make it through life without a sister?