My Sister Penelope

My sister, Penelope, aka Penny, is my anchor in life. She's the first person I turn to in a crisis. She's always been there for me from as long as I can remember. She took me out with her on dates and god forbid if the guys weren't nice to me and she even forgave me for giving her friends the chicken pox on her 15th or 16th birthday/slumber party.

I truly don't know what life would be without her, nor do I want to know, but if I could save her from having to experience losing me, or any of our family, I would do so in an instant.

She's so intuitive and wise where I am oblivious and even naïve and we share the misfortune of many illnesses and diseases and I don't think there's anyone in this world who understands what it feels like to deal with what she and I call, “these bodies” but each other.

She's the most generaous person I know and she'd give me her last dollar if I needed it. She's such a fantastic daughter and she took such great care of our mother – it was Penny that ensured my mother never needed or wanted for anything and that she led a life of depth and meaning as well as physically getting her to move so she stayed mobile until the very end at 91! She's loves with a depth that I don't think I can ever truly understand which makes me love her more.

She also cares for our father even though he never cared for us and in such a way that is incomprehensible to me. I cannot forget how he treated his family and yet I didn't experience the kind of pain that Penny and our mother did. When Penny was a little kid our mother didn't drive and he would give them $10 a week for the entire household and “drink away” the rest. I'm sure he embarrassed her when she had her friends over and that was something my mom and Penny made sure was not repeated with me. My dad would buy a bar full of strangers drinks and let me my mother and sister with very little resources, no car and barely enough money. It makes me angry to think about it as I write this!

Penny is an incredible person, Mother, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, Grandmother and friend and we are all blessed to have her in our lives.

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