Sisters

I don't have a sister. (A great brother, but he was a "little" brother, and although I love him dearly we weren't particularly close growing up). I don't honestly remember whether I really wanted a sister, but I said I did. And when I imagined the family I would have one day -- in the form of a 3rd grade project called "My Life" -- I created three children, one boy and two sisters. Voila!

And as I watched Lindsey and Stephanie be sisters, I experienced some pangs of jealousy from time to time. They would fight, of course: Stephanie's first tattle-tale moment came when she was only two and yelled down the stairs: "Mom! Lindsey hit me back!" But they had "sleep-overs" in each other's rooms once a week, regardless of who had stolen whose jewelry or socks.

Lindsey recounted a memory about her little sister:

"I was about six and Stephanie was about four. We were a block away from home swimming at a friend’s house. It was one of those four foot tall pools that kills the grass in the backyard because it’s up all summer and filled with water…the kind you can easily pour out by accidentally flipping part of the wall down. It started raining lightly, but quickly became a thunderstorm and Steph and I had to get home, so we took off at a full sprint toward the house. We were almost there…about two driveways away, and I realized that I had left all my little plastic jewelry, which was more important than anything on Earth at that time, sitting by the pool on the fence. I stopped the both of us dead in our tracks.
“Stephanie, I have to go back!” I yelled over an earth-shattering clap of thunder.
“Okay,” such a tiny voice replied.
“Stay here!”
I took off back in the other direction, heart racing, mind racing, so frightened I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. I snatched my jewelry off the fence, terrified and alone, and it seemed to take forever to get back fighting through rain. As I neared the point at which we had stopped, I saw little Stephie standing there on the sidewalk being soaked through, lightening streaking right above her head, thunder shaking the ground…she was so calm. My dad was on the front porch yelling at her to come in, but she just watched the other direction for me. She waited, staring as I passed each driveway. She waited patiently until I was right by her side, and when I got to her, she broke into a run again and we were home safely in a matter of seconds. She doesn’t remember this, but I’ve told her the story a million times."

As they got older, they were there for each other in all the important ways,and they have stayed true friends. Whenever I see a picture of them together, I feel all warm and lucky. Sisters. What a blessing.