Sisters

I was getting ready to go to a dinner at church tonight, and I accidentally reached for the waterproof mascara.  I noticed before I put it on, but I shrugged my shoulders and put it on anyway.  I never wear waterproof mascara, but I was in a hurry and didn't bother to switch.  In the car driving to the dinner I was so grateful for that waterproof mascara.

My sister had a baby two weeks ago, and I got to facetime with her just minutes after the baby was born.  It was a really special moment for me to see her and her baby, even though they were so far away.

Last week my sister moved from where she lived 7 hours away from me to where she lives now, 18 hours away from me.  I could practically feel the distance between us growing as the day went on and the car with her and her babies in it moved farther and farther east.  But just the other day I got a tour of her new home.  Thanks to skype I got to see the place that she is already making into a beautiful home.

Grocery shopping in this house is a full family event.  Every Saturday we pack up the troops and navigate the aisles.  Shania Twain was playing, and half without realizing it I was singing along, holding nothing back, as you have to do when you sing with Shania.  I felt like my sister was standing right by me, because how can I listen to Shania and shout along with her in the grocery store without my sister there?  I might have even been dancing a little bit.

But the girls just stared at me, and Devin said, "You do know you're singing, loudly, right?"  and my sister wasn't there.

My sister thinks she can't cook, but she makes the most perfect guacamole I've ever had.  And sometimes, late at night, or in the mid morning, or the early afternoon, I crave her tostados.  She makes brigadeiros that make me ten years old again and at my first Brazilian birthday party.

Growing up, my sister was everything that I was not, could not, did not know how to be.  And as I drove to the dinner tonight, a Celine Dion song came on the radio.  I smiled, turned up the volume, and began to sing along, of course.  The song is supposed to be about a lover, I realize that.

But if you had seen me, hunched over, sobbing at the red light, still singing my lungs out, I was crying for my sister.  And I'm not saying that's exactly what I looked like, just that it might have been sort of similar to how I looked.

Now, in the words of Celine Dion, this is for you, Meems.

For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through,
Through it all

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak (cue extreme sobbing on this line)
You saw the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith cuz you believed
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all

You've been my inspiration
My world is a better place
because of you

Anyway, I love you.  I miss you.

I tried to find that poem that I wrote for you a few years ago, but I couldn't find a copy of it. Do you know the one I mean?

also pictured: her adorable boy Daniel, and our beautiful sister (in law) Rachel.