Thoughts on my sister
My baby sister turns 33 this week. I visited her this weekend for a family birthday dinner at her house. Her husband's parents and siblings were there along with our mother and step-father. No major family dramas (in fact one past drama was actually made better by something that happened -- no need to go further into that). I was looking forward to hanging out with her after everyone left. It seems, now that we are both adults, we rarely have time for that anymore. I think she also feels the same and when it was discovered that someone needed to run to the store to pick up something before everyone arrived, her husband (one of my favorite people in the world, a very good husband to my sister) suggested that the two of us go out while he stayed home with their son.
We drove the short distance to the store and gave brief updates on our lives. The shopping list was small: birthday candles, cake-writing icing, and firewood. We knew our time was limited and quickly retrieved the first two items on the list. The last item remained elusive, however. What happened next is exactly why I miss hanging out with my sister.
She dared me to ask a male cashier if he had wood. She didn't just suggest it would be funny, she reveled in the idea of it (which I admit, was contagious). It took a while for this 40 year old to stop giggling at the prospect of the question before we got into line. And, as a birthday gift to her, I looked the 17 year old male cashier in the eye and we had the following exchange:
me: "Excuse me. Do you have wood?"
male cashier (with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face): "What?"
me: "Do you have wood?" (at which point my sister interjected with "firewood")
cashier: "Oh, yes. I think it's over there."
After I procured the firewood and went through the checkout process, the cashier said: "So, what are you two doing this weekend?"
Perhaps he was trying to be polite. Clearly he didn't see my sister's six-months' pregnant belly. I also like to think he didn't realize I was 40, but I certainly know I didn't look young enough to be the subject of a come-on from a 17 year old. I revealed it was my sister's birthday and we wished him a fun weekend.
My sister and I stifled laughter all the way out of the store and guffawed when we reached her car. "Totally worth it!" we both agreed.
Later that night, after my nephew was in bed and the relatives were long gone, my sister, her husband and I played a favorite board game and continued our goofing around. Cracking jokes, blocking each others' moves and doing the things that sisters and friends enjoy. I only live just over two hours away, but that seems too far. And, as is always the case when I visit them, I am reconsidering my decision to remain here in the Happy Valley.
Side note on my nephew: I just received a phone call from my brother-in-law. James woke up from his afternoon nap and asked his Dad to take him downstairs so he could play with Auntie. Of course, after Ben broke the bad news to James, he quickly said "I want to play with cars." It's good to know that he wasn't completely broken up by my absence.
We drove the short distance to the store and gave brief updates on our lives. The shopping list was small: birthday candles, cake-writing icing, and firewood. We knew our time was limited and quickly retrieved the first two items on the list. The last item remained elusive, however. What happened next is exactly why I miss hanging out with my sister.
She dared me to ask a male cashier if he had wood. She didn't just suggest it would be funny, she reveled in the idea of it (which I admit, was contagious). It took a while for this 40 year old to stop giggling at the prospect of the question before we got into line. And, as a birthday gift to her, I looked the 17 year old male cashier in the eye and we had the following exchange:
me: "Excuse me. Do you have wood?"
male cashier (with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face): "What?"
me: "Do you have wood?" (at which point my sister interjected with "firewood")
cashier: "Oh, yes. I think it's over there."
After I procured the firewood and went through the checkout process, the cashier said: "So, what are you two doing this weekend?"
Perhaps he was trying to be polite. Clearly he didn't see my sister's six-months' pregnant belly. I also like to think he didn't realize I was 40, but I certainly know I didn't look young enough to be the subject of a come-on from a 17 year old. I revealed it was my sister's birthday and we wished him a fun weekend.
My sister and I stifled laughter all the way out of the store and guffawed when we reached her car. "Totally worth it!" we both agreed.
Later that night, after my nephew was in bed and the relatives were long gone, my sister, her husband and I played a favorite board game and continued our goofing around. Cracking jokes, blocking each others' moves and doing the things that sisters and friends enjoy. I only live just over two hours away, but that seems too far. And, as is always the case when I visit them, I am reconsidering my decision to remain here in the Happy Valley.
Side note on my nephew: I just received a phone call from my brother-in-law. James woke up from his afternoon nap and asked his Dad to take him downstairs so he could play with Auntie. Of course, after Ben broke the bad news to James, he quickly said "I want to play with cars." It's good to know that he wasn't completely broken up by my absence.
posted by LTV at
2/07/2010 05:46:00 PM
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