Twin Love

"Do you honestly expect me to pay attention to every word you say?," my sister Arlene asked as she looked at me incredulously. I had just complained or whined that she hadn't listened or remembered something I had previously told her.

Before you jump to conclusions and think she was mean, the truth is she deserves compassion. All my family members do. Poor things. I talk ALOT. I talked even more when I was growing up. Always the chatter box. Always running my mouth. Regularly dominating conversations. That was me. And my poor family had no escape, especially not my older sister. We are 13 months apart, so she had been listening to me speak daily  from the day I developed my language skills until we no longer lived together (which was when I was 23!) Her question was as honest as they come. I couldn't blame her a bit and saw her point of view.

Needless to say, when she told me some weeks back that she loved to read my blogs, I was so honored. Here was someone who had more reason than most to tune me out, and instead she is openly encouraging my communication abilities, and cheering me on to boot. Who would've known?

Yesterday I blogged about my sister Johanna. I immediately decided that my next blog would be about Arlene. The closest thing I will ever get to a twin sister, without actually being a twin.

Growing up Mom dressed us alike. All. The. Time. Until we were like 12. As teenagers we were so scarred from the experience that we refused to even wear the same colors on the same day. Needless to say, people constantly thought we were twins. As teenagers we were still being asked if we were twins. We always figured they had a problem with their eyes. Didn't  they see how different we looked? Duh!

I remember being in middle school and I seemed to be in my sister's way. The last thing she wanted as she was gaining her teenage independence was me hanging around under her feet. Then we moved to Florida my first year of high school and my sister was the only friend I had on my first day of school. I don't know if it was because we braved 2 new high schools together, or because we shared a mutual best friend our junior and senior years. But somehow before we noticed it, we became more than sisters. We became best friends. 

We discovered we enjoyed the same books. We'd scour library sales and swap new reads. In fact, we still swap new reads. We enjoyed the same movies. The same music. We were two peas in a pod. Had I been born a year earlier, we would have been two peas from the same pod. :)

I am saddened when I hear of sisters who don't have a good relationship. I know of sisters who spend their lives squabbling and speaking ill of each other and hurting each other at will. I thank God that I have been blessed with two sisters who have been such a blessing in my life. They have been friends and cheerleaders all the same.

To see Arlene and I together now, one would think we were far from being like twins. I am loud and boisterous. She observes and holds her tongue. I say what's in my mind without thinking. She meditates on her thoughts and speaks from her heart with wisdom. I jump into situations without thinking. She stands back and is purposeful in what she says and does. 

After observing the different temperaments between my 2 sons, she told me that my son Alvaro, is the ying to my son Joel's yang. It's funny she should say that. I believe that after all these years, she's still the ying to my yang. I hope that never changes.