Day 4: Best Childhood Memory

I've blogged about this before, and I'll likely blog about this again, but my favorite childhood memory is my sister. 

There are so many memories and experiences that we share that I am eternally grateful for. I feel incredibly fortunate to have a sister, a person who I can forever count on, confide in, and reminisce with. 

And having a sister, in my opinion, is infinitely better than acing a brother. I have literally no way of backing that up, but I am sticking to it. 

The bond we have shared for so many years is forever cemented. I love that most of the memories I can recall involve her. I love that I can ask her when I need something clarified. I love knowing that she has the same memories as me. I loving know we can still count on each other. 

Having a sister, a lifelong best friend, will always be the best childhood memory I could ever want to have. 

Something Borrowed- What it really means to have a sister

Every now and then we've all had to be reminded to share. But no one as much as two sisters.

It went from toys, to clothes, to shoes, to makeup, but as a sister with a sister you have always had to share. Everything.

I can remember being so angry to come home and find that something had been taken with out permission. Seeing it on the floor of her room, not being able to find it when you want it, or, even worse, seeing her in the throes of using it! More than anything you wanted her to stay out of your stuff.There were times when it felt like nothing was sacred, like nothing was really just YOURS. Some days it didn't feel like sharing, it felt like stealing. And such blatant thievery should be punished, shouldn't it? But mom's response was always just a sigh and a shrug with a reminder that she was your sister and to "try to get along better."

As you get older, and you move out and grow apart, you begin to learn that all that stealing wasn't really all that bad.. After all, you took stuff from her too, right? In recent years I began to remember that stealing as less of a punishable offense and began to see it for exactly what it was: sister sharing.

Sharing between sisters is different because it never ends. I have gone to my sister's house and borrowed her clothes, she has come back home and borrowed my clothes. And moreover, we still didn't ask each other.

Now that my sister and I are both co-habitating that same place I have found that her tendencies to help herself to whatever she likes in my closet has not changed. I find her wearing my clothes... often... but it doesn't upset me now like it used to. Possibly because I know that I borrow her makeup and never ask for that either, but more likely it's because I have realized the value of having a sister. Because over and over she has proven to be the one person who is always going to be there for me.

And really, what's a dress or a little eyeshadow between sisters?

In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips...

Overly sweet? Maybe. True? Definitely.

It would be impossible for me to count the amount of times I have been grateful to have a sister. There is something so magical about the relationship between sisters that can not be duplicated with someone else. So on this Christmas Eve I would like to dedicate a post to my sister and here are some reasons why.

1. Remember that time when...

Yes, she does. Without a doubt your sister will remember that time, that story, that memory of something that happened at Grandma's, on vacation, or at that 4th of July BBQ.

Remember that time when we watched "The Indian in the Cupboard"?

I am positive that if my sister was here she would laugh, before finishing telling this story.

She INSISTED on sitting in a rolling office chair, rather than sitting on the couch. When the rat jumped out of the cupboard it scared her, causing her to jump and fall backwards out of that precious office chair she was sitting in.

Thank goodness that was before the influx of 3D movies. She may never have recovered.

2. Guess what mom did...

I have called my sister at least a zillion times and began the conversation in just this way. And every time I did so, she was equally as horrified and amused with our mother as I was. Sisters are the people you can count on to have the same reaction to your parents as you do.

3. Best Friends

My sister is my best friend. She will always answer the phone when I need her to, call me with big news, listen to my big news, laugh or cry with me, endure family get togethers and throw me an eye roll at precisely the right moment.

As children when we would fight my mom would get so upset and tell us: "Your sister will be your best friend one day." We would continue to glare at one another all the while thinking "She will never be my best friend!"

Well Mom, here it is, and listen up-- because I'm only going to say this once: You were right and we were wrong.

4. Family Photos

For all of your embarrassing photos, there are just as many of her.

Thank goodness.

5. Inside Jokes

Sometimes when something is said, it only takes a look from my sister before we have both collapsed into giggles remembering some joke that no one else at the table understands.

The reasons why sisters are the absolute best do not end here, but this is all I will share for now. Having a sister is like having a friend who was created just for you, someone who was born just to keep you company. I do not have a brother, so I cannot say for sure that they aren't as wonderful as a sister, but I am pretty sure they aren't.

So this Christmas, give your sister a hug and a kiss and tell her you love her. I know I will.

"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." ~Marion C. Garretty