I have a mom and a dad and two younger sisters. Well, we actually have two other “sisters”””my cousins Jake and Julianne. We get to spend a lot of time with them, so we consider them our sisters.
Yes, Jake is a boy, and yes, we call him our sister. And yes, we did make him wear footie pajamas one year on Christmas Eve, and yes, he was twenty-four years old.
Proof? Okay!! [Sorry Jake. Sorta. Okay not really. But a little.]
Julianne lived with my parents for the last two years of high school, and I’d like to publicly complain that she took my childhood bedroom. So for two whole years, every time I went to visit my parents, I had to sleep in the GUEST room. Phfff. Rude.
[Actually, it was fine and I totally love Julianne, so I’m not nearly as annoyed as I always told her I was. Hey, I’m the big sister. I gotta give her a little friendly trouble, right?]
Here they are without me. Rude that Atlanta has them all.
[Tatum is famous. That’s why she’s the only one wearing sunglasses.]
Being adult siblings is seriously different than being kids who fight and holler. It’s choosing to be friends and choosing to care and communicating on purpose since you probably don’t live in bedrooms across the hall from each other anymore.
How do you talk to your siblings? Do you talk to your siblings? What does it look like to have that relationship transform over the years?
All things we have to figure out.
No one else experienced you like your siblings. There are parts of my history that only my sisters [real and cousin-sisters] will understand. And there are ways I can speak life and death into their hearts in ways that no one else can.
I need to remember that.
I need to remember that they are listening. That I have a unique voice in their lives. And the same goes for them. They can say things to me that I can hear from them that no one else would know to say or be brave enough to say. And I need to remember that too- that I should speak love and listen when they do the same.
Awww… cute sisters.
Confession time: I’m not the best sister. I’m just not great at it. But Tatum and Sally are great at it, so I watch them and applaud them and hope I teach my kids how to be like them.
. . . . .
SPEAK LOVE NOW
I just started a group text between my sisters and cousins and mainly used emojis, but I think they knew what I meant. Tonight, I’ll also holler at them each, say thanks and that I love them, and make sure they know why. The words always matter, but the WHY seems to be clutch, doesn’t it?
How about you call your siblings today? Or text them weird emojis? Or write on their facebook wall? Just something to say “I’m glad God put us in the same family.”
. . . . .
Tell me about your siblings in the comments. I’d love to hear.
This is Day 16 of 31 Ways to Speak Love. You can click here to see a list of all the posts in the series.
