My Sister, My Best Friend

Peanut butter and jelly. Yeah, I think that is a pretty good metaphor for my the way my sister and I are together. Totally different, each with it's own unique qualities, and awesome together. This nightmare has affected so many people, and seemingly more and more everyday, but she and I are experiencing the same exact thing: Our mother has been replaced by a stranger.  The fact we are so different has allowed us to compliment one another's strengths, and to step in and take on more when the other hits a wall. When I allow myself to reflect on the last several months, I know that it would have been worse without her, if that even seems possible.

My sister on her wedding day.

We haven't always been this close. For quite some time, our differences drove us in opposite directions. It always seemed that we were in different places in our lives and had a hard time connecting. We always had a genuine love for one another, but it wasn't until recently that our relationship really developed into something I can't imagine being without. I have an admiration for her that I'm not sure words can capture. She is so strong. This girl has been through hell these last few months, and not just involving my mother. As if this crisis isn't bad enough, she's had her own struggles, and yet she comes out like a true fighter. Has she had her low points? Yes...she is human, and these have been the times when I have done the best I can to be the shoulder she needs. I don't have a fraction of the strength she does, but I use what I have to build her up. This girl also has a confidence that makes me so proud. When she wants something, she puts everything has into getting it, and God help the person who gets in her way. (Just ask her husband! Oh, our poor husbands...they'll get their own post soon!) She has marched into situations, asked the right questions, speaking their language and blown us all away. The youngest in the family has been our leader and rock throughout this. Yes, this would have been way worse without her, and I don't even want to think about what worse could look like.