The Bond - My Sister

(Left: Me, and Right: Cobie.... Most definitely doing something mean to me before this was taken)

 My biological sister is my best friend. Although it took us both growing up to realize this, I am glad to be at a place where I can confess my biggest hopes and deepest fears to her and know that whatever her opinion, it is only with my best interest in mind. She is the life of the party and still knows how to make everyone love her. I’m still the nerdy sister who has to try so incredibly hard to overcome every fear in my life. I have overcome so many of those fears with her in mind or her standing behind  me, sometimes taunting me to give me that extra push I need. When she struggles, I am there for her. We are more than biological sisters, we are the same. We have more jokes than I could ever have with anyone else. She has gotten me into more trouble than anyone else. Most importantly, she is the one person who understands me more than anyone else.

   

In those moments where my sister and I argue, we are able to see the aspects of our parents in each other and we end up laughing about it. In my worst of times she has held me and given me comfort that no one else is capable of giving. When I was pregnant and having complications, we came to realize that things weren’t going well. She called immediately and sat on the phone with me, just crying, because there were no words we could say to make it better. She was there when my daughter was born 9 weeks early and struggling for survival. She was at the hospital every day with me. Equally, I was her birth partner for her first baby, and held her through the whole process. She moved away once, and it was too much to bear. The distance hurt, so we found ways to communicate throughout the day. We watched TV shows together and then would text or call whenever we had the chance, just to have that connection like we were still hanging out together.

            

My sister is everything that I like and dislike about our mother, and I am everything that she likes and dislikes about our father.  This leads us to have conflict at times but we are honest enough in our relationship to admit that love is not affected by an argument. Our love for each other is unconditional and that makes us able to tell each other when we’re wrong and encourage each other when we’re right. Although we are so different in our lives, we still love to just be around each other. Even when we’re not talking about anything specific, it is her company that brings me comfort. She doesn’t realize it but even as an adult, I love to be in her home, just looking through her perfumes, nail polish and make up, trying desperately to understand how she is so wonderful and womanly, while I am very basic, and lack the general effort to indulge in “pretty things”. She has always been the beautiful one, and I was just a poorly attempted mimic of her.

            

(Left: Cobie and Right: Me.... this is the love we have for each other)

I define her as “sister” to distinguish her from those who don’t have the biological connection. I hold her up higher than any other because no matter what connection I may have with other sistahs in my heart, she is in my DNA and there is no closer bond than this. I love her with all that I am, because she is me, and I am her.