So last Friday (April 10) was National Sibling Day, officially in the US, but unofficially in the rest of the world, as things that trend tend to go worldwide with the way that social media is making our world smaller and smaller. Last Tuesday, my cousin welcomed her second little girl into the world, welcoming her first born into the ranks of big sisters worldwide. And this morning, at 6 am, my baby sister, now a married woman of 22, hopped on plane eventually headed for Spain to live there for the next three to four years. My brother-in-law is in the Navy and his station is there. If you read this blog, you'll know that they've had whirlwind of a life together. They started dating last January (2014) and boom, now they've been married nearly four months. But I digress.
All of this sibling love combined with all of the "going away" gatherings and finally dropping my sister off at the airport on Sunday made me super emotional and nostalgic and when I'm like that, I tend to write. So write I will.
I don't remember being told I was going to be a big sister and I definitely didn't know I'd be getting a little sister. My parents had decided with both of us that they wanted to be surprised by who showed up in the delivery room. I do, however, remember the day she came home. When she was born, I stayed with my grandparents and I remember my grandma bringing me to the hospital the day we were all going home together. As a three, nearly four, year old, I naturally got bored or distracted and started playing with some other kids. For some reason, they had a stamps and I managed to cover my hands in ink. My grandma cleaned me up, all the while scolding me that I wouldn't be allowed to touch my baby sister if my hands were dirty! I was obviously a great example right from the start.
The day that my cousin brought her newest little home, she posted a bedtime picture of both of her girls, with Big Sister holding Little Sister, with the caption of "Can I hold her for a few minutes before I go to bed?" It is one of the sweetest photos I've seen (and she has a lot of sweet photos) and I got choked up. Because of my sister leaving, we've been watching a lot of home videos and we came across a video of when my sister was just about a week old and it was in the morning. I'm freshly bathed and dressed for the day, wet hair combed back, dressed in a Sesame Street t-shirt and jean shorts. My sister is sleeping peacefully, full cheeks and cute as can be. "Daddy, I think we should wake her up." "Why's that?" "Because I want to hold her." "No, let her sleep." "Nooo, I want to hold my baby sister." - I kill myself with cuteness. I was so in love with her.
Fast forward to pre-teens and teen years when we had screaming matches, cold shoulders, cuddle fests, movie marathons until I left for college up north. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, not just in terms of romantic love and we went from sisters who liked spending time together when I was home to actual friends who could truly confide in each other. She's always been wise beyond her years and more mature than those her age (but, oh trust me, she had her moments). We would still get on each other's nerves if we spent too much time in close quarters, but that's what sisters do. For about nine months, we were both living out of the house, me up north in the Bay Area, while she was in college in North Carolina. For the first time since I was born, my parents were empty-nesters. Then we both moved home within a few months of each other and life got thrown back into high school.
Fast forward again to now. Within the last year and a half, my lovely sister met the love of her life, got engaged, got married and has now officially moved to a foreign country. My new brother-in-law, who we've actually known since he was a kid but never really knew, is in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in Spain. They're beginning a new adventure and their married life in a way that I can't even imagine. She's a married woman now and will grow up in more ways than we realize right now and will go on adventures and come back to the states in a few years with so much life experience. I'm so excited for her and slightly jealous of her adventures. That being said, I'm going to miss her so damn much. When we were dropping her off at the airport in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I cried. We were going to walk her as far as security. Well, the airport she flew out of moved their security screening to the ticket lobby and I wasn't ready. When I saw the security line, I said "that's it! No!" and got choked up. We hugged a long time and told each other we loved each other. I was a mess but she was too excited to get going to cry. I don't blame her. I did the same when I left for my summer in Italy. We watched her go through security and through the doors and then, for the first time since she was born nearly 23 years ago, it was just me and my parents again.
Michela, I love you so much. Good luck with everything, see everything you can and tell me all about it.
