Sisters

I don’t have any sisters, only 2 brothers so a post about sisters might seem a  little strange. But recent events have really highlighted to me how many amazing women I have in my life, many of whom are truly like sisters to me.

There’s my cousin, 3 years younger who is probably the closest thing to a sister I have. We grew up together and till the age of 13 (10 for her) were inseparable. When I moved to Perth she wrote a rather embarrassing poem entitled “Please don’t go”. We have a long list of funny and embarrassing tales from our childhood, some of which we have sworn never ever to tell anyone (they are that embarrassing - in a tween angst kind of way). Even though we have lived on opposite sides of the country and then the world to each other since then we are as close as ever.

There’s one particular friend, my closest girl friend for nearly 20 years now. We met during schoolies week on Rottnest at the end of year 12 and have been through all the ups and downs of university life, relationships starting and ending, careers starting and ending, weddings, 4 healthy babies between us (our eldest kids are a few months apart) and the pain of losing 2 more (hers). Again the distance between us has made no difference to our friendship.

Then there’s my sisters-in-law. There’s no guarantees what kind of relationship you will have with the wives of your brothers or the sisters of your husband but I am incredibly lucky to have 5 amazing sisters-in-law. 2 who are married to my brothers and 3 sisters of Rocky. The support they have given me in the last few weeks, both practical and emotional is fantastic. Apart from racking up horrendous phone bills calling me to lend a sympathetic ear, one brother’s wife has been running all over Perth helping me work out how and where to enrol Guerita in school next term. One of Rocky’s sisters emailed me the other day as soon as she found out what had happened, offering me her support “as a friend and a sister”. Not to mention my Mum who calls me everyday and who I had to stop getting on the next plane to bring us home, and my mother-in-law who emailed me to say how devastated she is.

It’s hard to express how much those kind of gestures mean, when it feels like your whole world is falling apart to know that people are thinking of you and supporting to you, even when there’s no obligation for them to do so.

Which brings me last, but by no means least, to you guys. I KNEW there was a reason to bare all, even though it was extremely difficult to do. I can’t tell you how comforting it was to receive all your comments, all your support and concern. You all, who have no obligation to care or to worry are thinking of me. None of you have even met me (except you CB ) yet you’ve taken the time to send me your messages. Some of you have been reading almost the whole life of the blog, some of you are first time commenters. I can’t thank you enough, but I’ll give it a try.