A word about sisters

Specifically my kid sister and me.

Part of why we clash so much is that I'm disappointed in the woman she's become. I know that sounds harsh, but there you go. (And if a gal can't be honest with her blog …) We're 8 years apart, and it was during her childhood our parents' marriage broke down completely. They never divorced, and the hostility in the house was very hard on her. I took on the role of protector and ersatz parent. Because I was young and still immature myself, I'm afraid I may have imbued her with gifts and qualities she didn't have. I know that, in material ways, I made her life easier to make up for how difficult her day-to-day was in that house. Now that she's often selfish and expresses a certain sense of entitlement, I realize that I helped create her. And I suppose I have no right to be disappointed that she hasn't lived up to expectations I had no right to project onto her.

On the other hand, she gets on my very last nerve. And I clearly get on hers.

Yet in some ways, no one knows you like your sister. On Christmas Eve, we gave one another our favorite gifts. I got her vintage postcards of our family's favorite vacation spot in Wisconsin. She got me the DVD of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. She reminded me that since she knows how I love it, she was the one who got it for me first in Beta, and then VHS, and now was undoubtedly time for an upgrade.

I guess that's one of the gifts of Christmas, isn't it? To remind us that we're bound by history and family, and that we love one another … even when we don't like each other.