10 April, 2012

Ah, the Joys and Trials of Sisterhood!

(For reference on the who’s who in the pantheon of my family, please review this post -there’s a summary at the bottom, so you don’t have to actually read the whole thing.)

 
As people get comfortable enough to ask about my move - in less than three weeks! - I’m getting kind of tired of explaining “My dad had a stroke – but he’s fine! – but it made me realize I should live closer to them…” wow, I bored myself just writing that, and that’s not even the whole spiel! I don’t want people to blame my dad for my leaving….  Plus I don’t think he wants the attention. He’s like me: doesn’t like a fuss unless it’s due to his brilliance and/or wit!

 
So I’ve started adding onto the spiel that I’ll also be closer to my sisters. Particularly Diana, who lives about 3 hours from my parents. If you perused the pantheon above, you know she’s my arch-nemesis. (Is there a difference between a nemesis and an arch-nemesis? Just curious.)

A year after the picture in the above post,
and we still can't smile together!

I think every girl has that sister. We have learned to get along as adults, but even that only lasts for short periods of time. But, like every girl with "that" sister, don't you dare insult her in front of me - even if I do - or I will quickly enumerate her many graces!

 
My point is, while I live on the coast, I only see Diana when we are all in the same place for a family event (for example at our parents’ house), all staying under the same roof and eating at the same table. All this intense interaction – as opposed to meeting for dinner occasionally (which we could do if I lived within 3 hours!) – serves only to build the tension and cause her to explode. 

 
Does anyone else have this sister? I know I am the cause of the explosion, although I have no idea why. Usually nobody else has any idea why, either… which is, frankly, gratifying.

 
When I move closer, hopefully we will be able to get together for random fun stuff without having to stay under the same roof.

  
...Because as much as I grate her last nerve, we do have fun up until the point of combustion.

~A couple years ago we took the train into Chicago (She’s on that end of the state) and met with an old friend…had pizza (Gino’s East, of course) and went to the Art Institute, and  did something else I don’t remember. It was good times!

~On the rare occasions that we talk on the phone, we always laugh a lot.

~Staying in a hotel for some big event, she, Hestia and I made mojitos in the hotel bathroom, which was cause for much laughter. (Not the mojitos as much as the making of them.)

~I recently posted something on my FB page, she made a comment (bizarre and innocuous to most people, I’m sure), but I provided the correct reply – because we have the same sense of humor – and the next comment was a friend from college spitting coffee out her nose.

I believe we are too much alike and that’s the cause of our fun and also the cause of the problem. She disagrees. I can't be too much like the lovely and talented Diana. I’m the quirky, nutty one. I'm the little sister who learned early on how to take a joke and who isn't a sore loser.

 
I love Diana. A couple years ago at Mom & Dad’s all of us girls were in the kitchen baking something, and it called for toasted coconut.

Me: How do you toast coconut?
Diana (raising her glass): To Coconut!
Mom, Dad, Hestia and I: [laughing out loud]

Mom had to have her foot up, much to her own dismay

We now always toast coconut at some point during big family meals.

 
I love the fun I have with Diana. I just wish I didn’t bug her so much. So there's lots of good that can come out of this move.
...but why am I telling you this? To the blogging world, the best part of this move has to do with my finally meeting my internet fiance Brett, and whatever that meeting will lead to! (And yes, we’ve already talked about where, just not a definite “when”)

So okay, I guess I could have written a list of things I'm looking forward to, but when I started that list, this Diana-thing took over.   

 
Today’s Literary Reason to Celebrate (thank you Cranky&Difficult) : The Great Gatsby was published! … in 1925! I do like this book. And I think there’s a movie of the book coming out soon.

27 comments:

  1. I'll bet your family is very excited to have you close again. It should be a great reunion.

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    1. I don't know...I'm upsetting the balance of nature. My other sister is in southern Michigan, and their families get together a bunch. Although, since I'll probably settle even further south, it might not throw things off too much.

      We shall see!

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  2. I miss my sister. She lives four hours away and I know she is very lonely in our home town, but yet I can't get her to leave.

    Its lonely, but its familiar.

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    1. I have one brother that will never leave. It's not bad at home, but the idea of going somewhere else is completely foreign to him. Will never happen.

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    2. Four hours? PSHAW. I'll drive 3 hours just for rollercoasters!

      Sometimes you just want to pick the poison you know, though. I get that.

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    3. Slightly off topic, but I love roller coasters!

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    4. (where are the rollercoasters in India?)

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    5. They've actually started popping up but I haven't dared to try them yet. My friends went to one of the parks near Cochin and the video they took was amazing... vomit everywhere and nothing was regulated. Just a little man in a uniform who would casually look at his watch and decide how long the ride should go on... 3 minutes... 5.... minutes... 8 minutes... ah, no problem! lol...

      I just like them in the west.

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  3. It's definitely a nice feeling to be near family, for sure. I don't have a big family and what I do have is now spread all around (which is actually better, trust me), but the hubs' family is huge and practically all in the same TOWN they are so close. They are all definitely in the same state, and probably from the farthest to the farthest, maybe 45 minutes, with everyone else pretty much in between them. It's something I never had before being with him and I quite enjoy it. Plus they are (mostly) all fun and super enjoyable people to be around. They tend to pretty much live at our house during the summer because we have a pool. Most are only about 20 minutes from us, so it's convenient for them. I like that my boys have that kind of huge family presence in their lives, because they are not gonna have any more siblings, that's for sure! But they have a ton of cousins, so that's nice.

    Aside: any more concrete idea of when you are coming to Bmore? I am in court a ton these next couple weeks, but I definitely want to try to meet up with you if we can. Let me know!

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    1. Sounds like my family - at this point I don't even know how many cousins I have. Around twenty on my mom's side and at least ten on my dad's!

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    2. I have mountains of cousins, almost all older than me, so it didn't really bother me growing up away from them.

      Ooh! I just about posted my plans for when I won't be home, right here on the internet! Not smart, Red.

      I'll email you.

      Delete
  4. Loved this post and especially the line about how things are sometimes rough with Diana, but if anyone were to criticize her, you just wouldn't put up with it! I don't have a sister - but I know the feeling you describe. It's one thing for me to say something about a loved one - but if anyone else tries lol.... ummmm no!

    Love the pictures! Is that you at the stove with your back to the cam?

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    1. Aphrodite has the same sister-issue I have, so we commiserate together.

      And yes. Never let it be said I did not post a picture of my-own-self! It's from a year or two ago, and I'm not that thin these days, but it's me.

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    2. Great to see you :)

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    3. ...but I know which is REALLY your favorite line. ;-)

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    4. And here I am trying to be discrete! ;-)

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  5. Being an only child I have no idea about the sister thing, but I will tell you that moving closer to family means one great thing will always happen with charming regularity. Free home cooked meals. Mmm.

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    1. Mmm...yes. My mom is much more creative than I am. On my last visit we had shrimp salad in a half-avocado one day, some fancy new soup she'd read about another day, these funny turkey-roll-ups another time.

      Yeah, I'll help, but don't ask me what I'm making!

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    2. I've started doing something that my mom does.

      She goes into the kitchen without a plan and starts chopping and messing about. If I ask her what she's cooking she says she doesn't know yet. Only when the dish is half way cooked has she decided what she's making.

      These last few weeks I've found myself doing the same thing and it's sort of fun.

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  6. I think I'm the Diana in my sister dynamic. Are you the younger sister? In my experience, the irritability is definitely higher with younger siblings...

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    1. Total LOL...yes, I'm the baby sister, and Diana is less than 2 years my senior, so we were often dressed alike, which didn't help.

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  7. Awww, sister love is always complicated. My sister and I are soooo alike in many ways. Other times we swear the other was adopted.

    We still fight, but I would love to live near her. Instead we are a couple thousand miles apart.

    Love the 'new haircut' pic!

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    1. I do think the closer proximity will be a good thing. I would like to be a little more present in my nephew's life, too. He's an awesome kid, but I never get to see him.

      Besides, her husband makes Mead... nice. :)

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  8. I have a brother and although we don't have much in common, we get along fine and have for a long time. We do act alike so maybe that helps.

    I don't think I need to tell you my stance on having family around. Family is the only reason I'm still here.

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    1. I think brothers do it differently...you know, gender differences and all. My two brothers don't get along, but don't fight. They just don't have much to do with each other by mutual choice.

      Sisters somehow can't avoid it. We WANT to be closer, so we try, and eventually succeed. Or fail, and try again later!

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  9. Now that you have moved, I am sure you have noticed that you see Diana way more than I do. It is not necessarily you that sets her off but anyone or thing that upsets her balance/control of the current event. I too adore her but can only spend a couple days. I find that with all the sibs (you are special and last longer but there still is that leave by date)

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    1. Oh I totally agree that there's only so much time to safely spend with any family. Or even friends, come to that. I've realized that we get along much better when I'm at her house, as compared to her being here, but I don't see the control thing.

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I enjoy a good debate. Feel free to shake things up. Tell me I'm wrong. Ask me why I have such a weird opinion. ...or, just laugh and tell how this relates to you and your life.