Within our Hearts

Having a sibling is one of the highest honors and greatest joys the universe can bestow upon a person. I am fortunate enough to have been given three wonderful siblings but I would like to focus specifically on sisterhood. Sisterhood has been on my mind lately as I've watched my three daughters grow into each other with the many changes occurring in their lives. As the older sister in my own family-of-origin, I have vivid memories of the intense love I felt for my younger siblings and the protective instincts I felt toward them. This priceless photo of my two youngest daughters captures the essence of this energy. The body language between them displays the yearning and magnetism drawing them together, like two stars in alignment that are supposed to be together in this life. It reminds me of how I felt as a bright eyed 8 year old girl, even at the baby shower prior to my sister's birth. In those times we did not know ahead of time the gender of the baby, so everything was green and yellow. I already had a brother who I absolutely adored to pieces. THE cutest brother I could have imagined, a little blond-headed cupcake. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me. But, I desperately wanted a sister and wanted the "new baby" to be a girl. I couldn't have been more ecstatic when a beautiful baby girl was brought home from the hospital. She was as precious as a china doll, and could not have been more adorable. As she grew into herself I couldn't imagine her being more perfect. She was MINE. I shared everything about myself with her, and once I was old enough to understand my potential influence, I saw her as an opportunity to extend everything good about myself into her. However, she had so much goodness already within her, that it reflected back to me and we lived in each others warmth and sunshine.  I sensed her absorbing everything she saw in me and it made me want to be a better person. When I was away at college 20 years ago, she sent me letters and artwork which I still keep. She learned the lyrics to all my favorite songs and would sing them with me, even though my taste in music was not exactly popular. One of my favorite memories with my sister is when she was 10 years old, she visited me at college. There was a steep hill near my building on the campus, which we called a ravine (but it wasn't really a true ravine). Her idea, we took some blankets outside, wrapped ourselves up in them, and began rolling down the side of the hill. It was amazing fun, we were shouting with glee, and eventually some of my classmates walked by. They looked at me strangely, laughing at my absurdity, but ultimately they decided to join us in the fun! There were about 5 of us out there rolling down the hill in blankets with my little sister. Several of the campus nuns stopped and watched us in enjoyment. Today we still talk about the day we rolled down "the ravine". This memory exemplifies everything about my relationship with my sister. As adults, the age difference between us now does not seem to matter anymore, so we are best friends.  Our life paths have been quite different, but she is still the only person on earth that can know me in this way and our souls are permanently connected and intertwined. This is the vision that I have in mind for the futures of my three girls, and I cannot wait to watch them experience it with each other as they grow.