Sister

I have been truly blessed to have my sister Kathy with me this week, from Monday until today. We were close as kids, but have spent very little time together over the past 20 years. She’s been in Washington State raising and homeschooling five children, running businesses with her husband, building houses and all manner of things. She came out for my wedding 7 1/2 years ago, and 4 years ago we had a family reunion at her house.

When the diagnosis came down, though, any distance between us disappeared. And the first time we talked on the phone, what struck me most was her laugh. We have very similar laughs, or maybe it is just that we laugh in the same way at the same things. We are quick to laugh. And, boy, have I missed her laugh. We both remarked on it this visit, brushing our teeth at the dual sinks in the bathroom before bed, how good it was to hear the other laugh, and how much we have always been dedicated to making the other laugh.

Great joy, having a sister. Being a sister. And yet, how long would it have taken us to be together like this, one on one, over an extended period of time, without the cancer? I think it is probably very common in families that spread out over the country to only see each other in groups. There are events and reunions and even just family vacations where everyone is together. It is fun; it is good; it is important and maintains the relationships. But this week was something different. Here we are middle aged women who can be together like no other friends. Great joy.

She remembered this photo, which I found in an album. It’s of the two of us in a 3-legged race at some picnic, probably a church picnic. We both remember the race so vividly– even our younger brother remembers it– because there were a lot of kids in this race but they all collapsed very quickly after the starting line. She and I counted off: 1-2-1-2-1-2 and were able, despite our quite disparate heights– to run right down the field. We won so handily, it was hilarious. Kathy and I are very different, have lived very different lives, and yet we are always bound like this, and when we need to be, we are in sync.