Sisters!

“What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it?”-Jenny DeVries

I'm so excited that my little sister Megan is coming in town today! (That's Megan with her husband Austin in the picture.) I haven't seen her since a brief stop I made in Birmingham several weeks ago. Little Megan is so cute and tiny, she weighs 100 pounds when she's been eating a lot (except for that semester in France when she loved that cheese and wine-- did you get to 105?), and she's almost 6 years younger than I am, so she'll always be my baby sister, about 13 years old in my eyes.

Jenny, my older sister, and I were just talking about her two children who just adore each other, even at the young ages of 5 and almost 2. That got me thinking about sibling rivalry. I browsed one of my favorite health blogs today and there was an article about just that. It asked, "Did you suffer at the hands of a sibling, or did you inflict pain of your own?" I would have to say I did both of those, since I am the lucky middle child.

While I did have much pain inflicted and was the inflicter of much pain, I did learn some lessons from both. First, I think I know pretty well how to fight someone bigger and stronger than I am. And I also know when it's useless to fight back. Sometimes the way to end a fight best is to do something funny (whether you meant to or not, like that one time Jenny, you know what I'm talking about), and end up laughing so hard you forget what you were fighting about. You learn how others' anger and forgiveness works; sometimes if you just pretend it didn't happen, all is forgotten. Other times, you have to let her win some silly contest, or let her think she's right to make her happy again (not that I ever did that! I'm sure you were right, and would've won anyway!). I sure learned a lot from my sisters. I think Linda Sunshine's older sister was like mine. She said, "my sister taught me everything I need to know, and she was only in the sixth grade at the time."

Then from the other side of the sibling rivalry, I learned that things you did a long long time ago can be remembered twenty years later. And you still feel bad about them and wish you could take them back. I learned that my little sister is one of the most forigiving people in the world, because to hear her tell it, she was a tortured child! But she still forgives me.

Reading the NY Times Health blog comments earlier today, I am so thankful that my sisters and I get along like we do now. Some siblings were never able to repair the damage done in those early years, and there is obviously a lot of pain and anger those people are still holding on to. How sad!

Of course sisters who are the best of friends can still have their differences, but like Ms. Sunshine said, "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." I'm so glad I can relate!