I have two older sisters. K is ten years older than I am, and M is three years older than K. What this means is that I was four when M went to college, and eight when she got married. I was eight when K went to college and 12 when she got married. I had the experience of being an only child for much of the time from the age of eight on. I had holiday and summer sisters.

Despite the age difference, or perhaps because of it, I have learned much from my sisters. From K, I learned how to be creative. She, in effect, taught me to color outside the lines. It was no surprise to me that she became an elementary school teacher. From K I have also learned how to become part of your husband’s family, without losing the connection to your own. Without realizing it, I’m sure, she also taught me how to be a mother, as I saw her often with my oldest nephew when he was very young. K is patient and kind and from her I have learned what that looks like, and aspire to it.

From M I learned how to be opinionated, to pave my own path. I learned to have the courage behind my convictions, to speak up, and to write my own major in college (something she did, and so did I.) M, also a writer — a print journalist, in fact — has always encouraged me with my writing but also demonstrated how to dedicate your life to work that you love, while being a dedicated mother, too.

My sisters are both incredibly generous and caring. My sisters are thoughtful and artistically gifted. My sisters often know just the right thing to say.

My sisters are, and always have been, beautiful. I wanted to be just like them, alternately, at different times in my life. They are so different, it’s impossible to want to be just like both of them at once. They were the ones from whom I stole blush and lip gloss, whose Danielle Steele novels I read, whose wedge espadrilles I wore, at their chagrin, as soon as my feet were as big as theirs. I tried my sisters on like dresses, to see which one I would turn out to be.

I’m sure that many of the lessons I learned from my sisters, I also learned from my parents, or my sisters learned from my parents and passed down to me, the little sister. But that’s another post.

This one is about my sisters.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 am and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.