Soul Sister Friends aka A Week with My #Sister

Last week was spent with my sister, the baby of the family. That is a weird phrase to use considering we are both past the M word (menopause). We had a great time, and learned a bit about each other in the process. You see, I was 18 when I moved out and she was only 9 years old. She was my baby toy, I was her annoying teenage sister.

As the week began, hanging out in my tiny house bonded us together more than we would have imagined. “Oh, you do that!?” “I didn’t know you like that!?” or better yet, “You are so weird!” Perfect sister week. Thank you, Steven, for loaning me my sis for a week.

We soon learned the one singular batshitcrazy trait we both share: knowing where every little thing was in our humble abodes. Let me give you a few anecdotes as examples:

Question #1: from my sister, asked by her boyfriend: “Where is the cord to the FitBit?” Her answer: “in the office, go to the second shelf up, top of the box on the right, in the back”. Voila! That is where the cord was! He admitted he slapped his knee, chuckling. But of course!

Question #2: from myself, to my sister: “Where is the water glass you want me to use at night?” My response: “In the kitchen, far left cabinet by the kitchen sink wall, first shelf, in the middle, far back”. Again, spot on!

Question #3: from my sister, to myself: “Where is my toothpaste?” Admittedly, this may have been my fault. When I open a drawer with my short winter boots, I kept knocking over her toiletry items on a nearby shelf. These kept falling in to a wicker shelf unit I use in my bathroom that had openings large enough to swallow items of use. We looked and looked and gave up that night. Thursday morning, we resumed our search. I thought, hmmm, those open drawers…. I said, let me look one more time. Yep, I figured out the toothpaste fell to the left of the shelf right in to the second drawer from the bottom. I just knew it was there.

Question #4:
This is where things got zany. What we have in common and just not going there:

• Dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. But I love white chocolate, she does not
• Clams not mussels, I will savor both
• She likes floral or plaid patterns, I am in to paisley or geometric
• Mexican food #1, Italian food #2. All other cuisines are either also favorites or on a list to try
• She prefers flats, I prefer cowgirl boots
• Music genres similar (now that is crazy!) but not movie choices
• We both as well as our brothers miss our parents. Very much. Not zany but what us Barrera’s are all about: love

Love is everything for me right now. Love, compassion, tolerance, empathy. More important now than ever. Thank you, God.

#sistertime #love #lifelesson #family