seezters

I have only discovered my sisters fairly recently.

I used to think that sisters are there to trade make-up tips with, to run to regarding monthly female woes, to be jealous of, to get into hissy fits with, or to "borrow" clothes, shoes or bags from without any intention of returning said items.

I spent more than half my life not knowing what sisters could mean to me. It's like being born with a missing limb: life is sustained but without the joy, the comfort and the knowledge of what more one can experience---achieve, even---if that limb existed.

For several years now, I meet with 2 of my sisters for a monthly girls' night out. Sadly, we're always one sister short of completing this estrogen circle, because our eldest lives a 90-minute plane ride away. We have to content ourselves with text messaging, email exchanges and phone calls, though these don't occur often enough. But the air is so thick with sisterly love that it takes my breath away.

More than blood, we have a shared bond of common experiences like maturity (well on its way to old age), marriage, and child-rearing. And memories. Although we grew up within the same four walls, woke up to the same sun each morning and were blanketed at night by the same dark sky, we all took with us in adulthood different keepsakes from our youth. What was a source of embarrassment for one was the same incident that gave another the requisite push to tackle life with such tenacity. These identical circumstances helped shape and bring forth four diverse personalities: a loving and untiring Mother, a compassionate and sensitive Friend, a loyal and generous Sister and an unfinished yet undaunted Woman.

My sisters have engraved in my soul a more palpable, more heartfelt meaning of the word that goes beyond semantics... and I am blessed three times over.