On Sisters

A recently published study from Brigham Young University found that having a sister makes adolescents less likely to experience feeling lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious, or fearful.

I've been blessed with four beautiful sisters. They are truly my best friends. My older sister was my closest friend during my early adolescence. We went to activities together all the time; she let me tag along even though I was two years behind her. I think at the time we both wished we had more friends to do fun things with, but now I don't mind so much that we often only had each other.

There are four years between me and my sister just below me. We weren't the best of friends while I was at home, but I am so happy that we are pals now. Our phone conversations last for hours and are often about nothing in particular, just what we did that week, or what our friends are up to. And that's fine with me. I am so glad that our relationship has become better, but I regret that I waited until moving away from home to get there.

Sister number three. She has such a special spirit. I see so much of myself in her, and I worry about her because of that. I want her to be happy and to be so much more than I was at her age. She's coming up on some difficult years, and that scares me. I want her to know who she is and be ok with that.

My fourth sister brings the greatest joy into my life. Whenever things get difficult for me, I just think about her and I feel better. She is the baby of the family, and I often wonder if we (her family) automatically treat her like she is younger than she really is because of that. She also has difficulty with her speech, which sometimes makes her seem younger than she is. She is very smart, just sometimes it is difficult to understand what she is saying. I love her so much. Over the summer, she started asking if she could call me. Since then, my mother has informed me that she's memorized my phone number (but she doesn't know her own phone number), and now she calls me on her own all the time. Usually she just says hi, then asks if I want to talk to mom or dad. But sometimes she'll ask what I've been up to. Sometimes she tells me what she's been doing, but I rarely understand what she's saying. It just makes me feel so loved to know she is thinking about me and she misses me. She has so much energy in her little body, and often does the silliest things. Last time I went home, we were grocery shopping and she picked up a pair of glasses from a display. I had to take a picture:



I cannot help but smile whenever I see this picture. It's a perfect example of how happy she is to be alive.

I have the best sisters. I love them so much. I'm afraid they will never know how important they are to me, how much joy they bring to my life.