I was in 8th grade science class. (Was it Earth Science or Life Science? Either way, it was science which automatically meant that I was uninterested. Not that there’s anything wrong with science…) It was a typical allergy season for me in that I was sneezing up a storm and my eyes produced more tears than when I realized Milli Vanilli was indeed lip syncing those awesomely rad songs. Within moments, though, my allergies worsened and my eyes swelled to the point of closing. My dad was working and my mom was, for some reason, unavailable. (I’m still in counseling about that.) So what did the school do with me? They called my sister who was a junior in high school. She came and got me out of science class (woo hoo!) and escorted me home. I’m not sure what happened after that but I vividly remember that walk home and her holding my arm guiding me the entire way. (Okay, so we only lived a block away from the school but it was still sweet.)

As a sophomore I was in Speech Club and channeled my efforts to reading prose. I wasn’t ever that good but hung around to take advantage of school road trips to places such as Abilene, Texas. (Hey, when you come from a town of 3,262 people, hitting a big metropolis like Abilene is a big stinkin’ deal!) To say the least, I was pretty psyched about the road trip to Abilene. What made it even more fun was that my oldest sister was in school there. I wasn’t sure if I was going to see her due to the fact that she was a cool college kid who was probably way too busy for her annoying high school sophomore of a brother but I was hoping that we might get to hang out. Sure enough, she came through for me. She picked me up at the hotel we were staying at and we cruised the streets of Abilene. Later on we tried to hook back up with my Speech Club friends. While looking for them we ended up at a dance party on another college campus. My sister begged me to get out and dance with her. I was too afraid and besides, dancing with your sister is just way too weird but deep down inside I was so excited to share this cool story with my friends. “Yeah, we didn’t do much of anything but we did crash this college dance party.”

These two stories pretty much sum up my sisters. One is a nurturer, the other is a welcomer, if you will. They are different in so many ways but because of their tendencies to nurture and welcome, both position themselves with the same posture - they both stand with arms wide open. And this is just one of the reasons that I love my sisters dearly. (Even if they did dress me up in girl outfits and make-up and parade me around the block when I was little.)