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When I was a child, I asked my mom for a twin sister. After she finished laughing she tried to explain that it wasn’t possible for me to have a twin sister. Of course I didn’t under the reason why I wasn’t able to have a twin but later and with the help of sex education in 6th grade it finally made sense. A twin or sibling never came my way, which helped me to create an amazing bond with my mom & dad. We were a very close family and as a child I was shy and very much a bookworm. My favorite place to visit was the book stacks at the library.
Within my neighborhood there weren’t many people like me, I enjoyed reading books and visiting museums with my mom. However, on some sticky hot days I would sit on the stoop of the three flat in which we lived. Over time there was a next door neighbor named Carla, who like me was different she liked school and books. We both understood that there was a world outside of the five surrounding blocks of our Chicago west side street. We each had our own big dreams of seeing the world and making our mark. Carla was my first real true friend.
Over time in school, I shed some of my shyness and garnered friendships with fellow classmates. I dealt with bullies and became the take no crap person that I am today. Yet my first true sister friendship was formed in Manning, SC with someone whom I consider to be my sister today well over 30 years after first meeting. Due to distance and time we lost touch with each other but after me moving to south our friendship was stronger than ever.
Looking at my life I have been blessed with many sister-friends from friendships formed in childhood, high school, and college as well as an adult living in a new city. In addition there are my sorority sisters, amazing women who together we seek to help make the world a little better. It is this collective of females from my past to my present that gives me strength to get over tough situations. During the deaths of my mother and grandmother, I learned that not just biological family loved me beyond measure but women who had become family. This was reiterated by getting help cleaning as well as trunk load of dry goods all the way to people visiting from 900 miles away.
Life will always be filled with tough situations that help to build our character. Still the times in our life where there is no strife help to build friendships. It is true that tough times help to solidify the bonds of a friendship but being able to be your every day self helps as well. I didn’t get a twin sister but I have a massive amount of sister-friends from north to sound that I know have my back just as much as if they were blood kin. To all those who I can call at anytime, and to those who know when I need to talk even before I pick up the phone, I say thanks sis’.
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PaisleyPerspective 