Tonight I am re-appreciating having so many sisters.
I just finished watching the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. It was intense, and I wanted so bad to have someone to talk it over with. So I called my Big Sister, who happened to be watching it at that moment. And after a conversation made up almost entirely of the statements "Oh my God!" and, "Did you SEE that?!?" and, "They can't kill HIM off, right?" I felt much better.
B is there for good book and music recommendations. And she's super easy to shop for, so I always have fun browsing thrift shops with her in the back of my mind. She'll even wear clothes I get for her (and is the only person I can say that for).
Jules is around for all pet-related questions, and will never refer to me as the weird rabbit lady. (Even though we both know she'd be spot on if she did.) And now she's planning her wedding and sort-of house hunting too, so it's fun to talk to her about how that's all going.
C's the only other person I know who's memorized every episode of Friends. Half of our conversations consist of quoting lines from the show. It seriously works on so many levels. She's also just purely good. Even when she's annoyed with you, she won't fight mean. She won't really fight at all. It's maddening, actually.
KT cheers me up with random photo texts of pretty things she sees, and lets me live vicariously through her free-spirited existence. Every ounce of carefree, carpe diem-ness in the family went to her, while I seem to have sucked up all the stick-in-the-mud-osity.
Big Sister has been around to commiserate about schoolwork for the past ridiculous number of years. She tried to teach me how to dance when I was in junior high. She failed, but she tried. And she calls just to chat at such serendipitous moments, that I have to suspect she's psychic.
And G. If you were to ask any one of us who our favorite sister is, we'd all say it's G. Not because she's the baby, but just because she's the best. She's the kindest, the most fun, the easiest to talk to. It doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, it's just generally understood that's the way it is.
Growing up with and then maintaining relationships with six other girls is like an accelerated, emotional boot camp. We fight. Some of us more than others. And I'm not as close with most of them as I once was. This is teaching me a lot about myself, and how I relate to those around me. We are each so different, and we each offer and demand such different types of love and attention.
The hardest lesson that I have learned from our conflicts is to not take things personally. There are times when the way people feel about you is dictated by your actions, and then there are times when it is not. Times when the way they feel has very little to do with you yourself, and everything to do with context and complications and a million other things you cannot control and often are not even aware of. And all you can do is love and accept and try to be good and then apologize when you fail at being good.
And also, remember to be grateful when you have someone to call and lament the untimely passing of some of the new interns as Seattle Grace. (We have a date to watch it together next year - much better than over the phone.)
Love, J
PS ~ I love these photos, but Big Sister is missing! And also, how pretty are my sisters?!? Gah.
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