March 12 is my sister’s birthday.
My girls each have two sisters. My boys each have three sisters.
I had one half sister and she was born 21 years before I was.
She died when I was 18.
When I grieve my sister, I grieve the years we never had together more than I miss the years we did have together.
At one point in her adult life she had two dogs, two cats, and 12 birds. A little excessive, one might say. I tolerated the birds. There were some that I liked and some I did not like, but I tolerated them all.
Fast forward 20 years and I have one dog, one cat, and five children. A little excessive, one might say. Would my sister relate to my children the way I related to her birds? Would there be children she likes and children she does not, but would she tolerate them all?
Or would our common excess — her excessive animals and my excessive children be our true common ground in understanding each other? Perhaps in our different eccentricities, we would find kinship and true camaraderie.
Perhaps.
This quote means a lot to me. I saw a quote recently about how one of the hardest parts of grieving is the expectations others have of how you should grieve and how long. I have found that to be true! Thank you for sharing and I do understand. Blessings, Shirley
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