Sisterhood

There are few things as surprisingly good as spending one-on-one time with my 13-year-old sister Hannah. I say “surprisingly” because, like all sisters, we have our, well, moments. We currently share a bedroom, and a bed, until Ethan moves out of the house in September. It’s hard to share because, even though we did it for years when we were younger, I’ve since moved away and gotten used to having more space to myself.

But sometimes we just click. Take today: We took a before-dinner drive to do a bit of shopping. We perused, grabbed hangers holding dresses we wish we could wear, tops we wouldn’t be caught dead in, and bags we could only dream about affording. We tried on everything in one cramped dressing room stall, honestly critiquing one another and jokingly lamenting our physical shortfalls. “I wish I were just a bit taller.” “If my boobs were just a bit bigger, then maybe, just maybe…” In the end, Hannah talked me into buying a slightly risqué top that was just “too cool,” in her words, and two sweet dresses I wanted but didn’t need. I bought Hannah a dress, too – a cute checkered number that looks so pretty on her.

The whole card ride home, we made plans for amazing summer adventures.

As we passed the 35 MPH sign at the outskirts of Yellow Springs, we both knew what to do without speaking. We rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof, and clicked off the A/C. We turned the volume up on the music, a mix CD of Ethan’s that we think is really good (but wouldn’t ever tell him so because he’s already the second biggest music snob in the household).

I asked her if she wanted to drive “through town,” meaning through downtown Yellow Springs. She was dancing in the passenger seat. She said yes, so we took the long way home just to see who was out. We didn’t see anyone we knew, which was disappointing, because we both agreed that we looked really cool.

I love that we can be really silly together. I like it when she laughs out loud at something I say. She makes me laugh, too. We’re constantly tripping over each other to run and quote one another to Mama: “Wait’ll you hear what Hannah just said!”

There’s something so relaxed about our relationship, that comfortable sisterhood that we see in the movies. But it’s scary, too, because she looks up to me and I want to be so, so good for her.