I am dedicating this short blog entry to my sister. My beautiful, clever, funny, courageous and lovely sister. Fate has dictated that we have spent the last twenty years living in different countries having little to do with each other's lives save for (often belated) birthday and Christmas cards - and a handful of phone calls. Why? Pressures of life, work, etc. distance, apathy - who knows ...
The fact is that she existed in my mind as a 14 or 15 year old (the age she was when I left home). The reality of her as a grown-up contemporary, with a life-time of experiences, hopes, dreams and disappointments that have shaped her into the person she is today, had not really dawned on me.
But wake up calls come - and sadly sometimes in the cruelest form possible, as it was with the death of our mother earlier this year. Once again we found ourselves together but with 20 years worth of separate lives lying between us. She was still my sister but in many ways a stranger and so, I suppose I was to her. But as we spent time together picking over the remains of our parents lives together, of our childhood, we drew closer once again, tears were shed, apologies made and once again we felt like sisters. It was a sad time however ...
Then I went to visit her in Spain and on a beach at midnight, in the middle of the Festival of San Juan, I hugged her, held her close and told her how much I loved her ... that was a beautiful, enlightening and overwhelming moment ...
They say that chance makes us family but choice make us friends ... well, chance may have given me my sister, but now I have re-discovered her I choose her as a beloved friend ...
Cherish your family ...
AMx
2 comments:
What a wonderful moment between you two. I hope to keep a strong relationship between myself and my siblings far into the future. ;).
Family is so important. You're totally right, it should be cherished.
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