February 2023 Musings

*Started this on February 1...adding to it on Febrary 10...still trying to finish it*

Hard to believe I'm actually posting so soon after my last post!! LOL!! Happy February! Today is my sister's birthday, so I thought I would write about her and our relationship...maybe I can figure out what that is.

I was born 4/27/48 and she was born 2/1/50 so almost 2 yrs. apart, but in our adult years I would tease her for a few months that she was "catching up to me". Then at the end of April, I'm nearly 2 yrs older again. :) So, this leads me to the topic of this post today. We have spent 73 years as sisters...never being apart until I was a Senior in high school when I went to live with my Aunt in Missouri and she stayed with Mom & Stepdad in VA.

I'm not sure if I can condense what I want to say into a reasonable post here, but the last few years have been like not having a sister at all. After many times of asking what was wrong, what happened...I narrowed it down to politics. That was a shock to me because although we did lean different ways, we never argued or even discussed our differences. 

<Here we were in our younger days.

In October of 2019 I moved back to Michigan after 7 yrs with my kids in Tx. Each year while in TX, I would drive 10 hrs to my sister's place in IL and after a day or two, we would make the trip to our parents' home in TN. Then back to IL and I would head back to TX. I made one trip when she was having surgery after cancer, 2015 I think.

When I moved back to Mi....I didn't feel comfortable on those long drives again. She was going to visit me in 2020, but would have to bring her dog and the apartments I'm in wouldn't allow doggie guests. Everything between us seemed pretty normal with phone calls and video calls until sometime in 2021 I noticed that she never called or made any comments or posts to me on FB like we had always done. Finally, to cut this short, she said it was because of our differences on political issues. I guess it was because I voted for Biden in 2020...remember, I voted for Trump in 2016. 

It's been really hard for the past 2 yrs not having a sister to share things with or feel like someone has my back...especially someone close to me for 73 years! It has helped that I've been able to "let it go" and not fret over it. Then yesterday I'll be damned if she didn't call me to say I should start a YouTube channel! Out of the blue! LOL! She'll probably never know that it made me happy that she called me, but I will keep my fingers crossed that it's the beginning of a renewal of our sisterhood. Most likely it will never be the same because of the break from our "norm", but hopefully something comfortable that will carry us through now.

So, I finally got these thoughts written down and preserved. I'm going to try to not fret over our "distant" relationship and maybe we will someday feel close again.