Sisters

Sisters

What an incredibly wonderful, awesome, frustrating, pain in my butt, going to slap you silly, best thing to happen to me, concept.

Do you treat a person differently if she is a sister? No matter what, I think just the concept of brother, sister, relation, colors a person's perspective at some level - even the most unbiased person I think somewhere at some subconscious or conscious level is affected by the word sister or brother when dealing with people.

I am one of four sisters. If you look at us, you find many interesting similarities and many, many, many (last one said with huge sigh and what am I going to do tone) many differences. I am the eldest of four girls in terms of birthdate. I am the shortest. I have the smallest family, my sisters all have two or three kids each. I have the most education (well education as defined only in terms of going to academic institutions - education comes in all forms and I would be foolish to think in certain areas I am well-educated - I know my sisters know much more than me in certain areas). I am the only one to have moved away from the city where we grew up (I ended up on the other side of the continent). My one sister is the only one still married to her original spouse (who was also her high school sweetheart) the rest of us are divorced. I'm the only one not in some form of relationship or dating anyone right now (although i'd love to find someone - lol).

Blood is thicker than water... what does that really mean?

One of my sisters is with no hesitation, no doubt, no shame that it is this way and I admit it - my best friend in the world and the only one who knows every single thing about me, she's the only one. She is one of only two people in the world I would never lie to no matter what the consequences (the other person is probably not aware of the fact she holds that special distinction in my world of course she is also not aware of the huge, major, more than a crush but 'fuck-it-she-will-never-know-the-way-I feel-about-her' attraction and deep feelings for her, but that is another blog and one I should probably not write as I will get very depressed).

My other two sisters I love and both are of course special, but I admit they are not as close to me. Some people are closer to non-related people than their own sister or brother. It is interesting how people use words like friends, acquaintances, partners, family and how these relationships are defined....

My sisters and I often joke among ourselves and classify ourselves. If you wrote down everything that had happened in our lives, it really would read like a bad soap opera script (I really should write down some of the things that have happened). But if you go for the stereotype and ways we kinda shake out.... There's the yuppie sister who's into being a 2.5 family, the mother figure sister who cares for everyone, the scholar sister who got out, the playgirl sister who lives life fast and loose.

The playgirl sister... the one that is causing much frustration among the other three sisters right now (and reason behind this entry). The one I am worried to death and mad as hell at. The one that is dating almost every night, and ends up sleeping with two or three different people a few nights a week (no I am not making that up), is following in my father's and (somewhat mother's) footsteps and becoming an alcoholic, just left one guy she'd been engaged to, still flirting with her ex, is playing her sisters, using anyone and everyone and is driving me insane and....

And whom I am not sure how to help, how to handle and what to do other than try and hang on as she goes on her little wild irresponsible ride through life. I do not use irresponsibly loosely, I am very irresponsible in many regards and very immature but... for example

she is always begging and hitting us up for money, she has no job (and not really working at getting one) and then gets a settlement of a couple 1000 from a lawsuit (again another blog for another day...grrrr)

BUT instead of using that to get an apartment or pay bills or such... she is supposed to be babysitting my other sister's kids so that sister can go to work well when that sister calls to confirm for the next morning, the playgirl sister took the money she got from the settlement and went to San Diego for the week (Sunday night, Kath calls Beck and Beck answers from Sea World, oh can't babysit tomorrow, we took off for a few days) thus blowing all the money and leaving my other sister high and dry.....

It is a sad but true thing that my sisters have come to almost regard a call from this sister as a "what do you want or what the F* trouble are you in now?" reason for her to be contacting us. Do you help, stand back and watch the crash, try to bring in outside help, do all of the things just listed and still find the same thing occurring? Laugh maniacally when you see her number on caller ID...

love her because she is your sister even when anyone else that had done even half of the stuff she had done you would walk away from... Which begs the question - is it right to treat this situation differently then others only because of a difference?

The only difference between someone you would not accept this kind of action from and her is a word.....

Sisters