Dear LPG, 

It is another American national celebration day, but this is definitely one that I feel that should be celebrated all over the world.  Today is National Sisters Day and I thought I would share a childhood memory that has stayed with me despite the many years that have passed since I was a child.

I had just one sister when I was young and, although there were three years between us, we were quite close but there was only one problem.  I was the youngest which meant that she was allowed to tell me what to do and she got first choice whenever there was one to be had.  She was always allowed to do things before I was allowed to and, while I was old enough to notice the injustice of it all, the fact is that I was too young for just about everything that I thought was important at the time.  

I watched as she went off to school for the first time while I was left wondering what it was all about, and when I finally found out she suddenly got a smart uniform and I had none.  She could always stay up later at night while I was ordered to bed and there were toys that she would not share with me because they were far too precious.  As we both got a bit older I felt that I was just about catching up but then she went off to college while I was left at home.  She learnt to drive while I could only watch and got her first opportunity to vote while I looked on too. The fact is that those three years made so much difference back then.

But decades have gone by and so quickly as we both left home, had families of our own and lived very different lives until recently when she retired.

I watched as she made all the financial adjustments needed, found out how hard it can be to find her way to a new routine, has explained how much lonelier it is when many of your closer friends are a bit too busy to talk to you as much because they still must go to work each weekday and I recently helped her to apply for her over 70 driver’s license.  All these things were quite sobering and prepared me for the things to come, many of which I am now ironically quite happy to wait for.

We have had a lot more time to spend time talking over the past two years and a recent talk opened my eyes to what was happening from her point of view all those years ago.  I told her about all the things that I had to watch her do while waiting for my turn.  I never before realised that back in the days when we were young, she felt quite hard done by because I was the favourite while she spent quite a bit of time looking after me.  She had to study for her exams while I was busy being a child, she did more chores and often ended up being blamed for some of the things that I had done wrong because our parents would assume that she set a bad example.

When it came to my older sister I had watched and waited with anticipation for so much of my life all those years ago, but now I am watching as she so often prepares me for the things that are coming my way as I get older.

YF, Catford

LPG offers a little information about National Sisters Day… 

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