Valentine's Day is Not Just for Lovers

Families are complicated. Mine is no exception.

I lost track of my sister and she of me around 2000, right after my daughter was born.

I'm still not sure how it happened. A day turned into a week. A week into a month. Months became years.

She built a life as a professional musician.

I built a life in Stepford.

I caught glimpses of her every now and then. Jay Leno, Scrubs, the VMA's, Rolling Stone. My daughter's face.

I once turned on the radio while driving to daycare and heard her being interviewed. Her voice was so familiar, but I couldn't find the girl I knew in her words. It was at this moment I began to fear I had lost her forever.

I felt as if a glacier of misunderstanding had filled the physical and emotional space between us.

Funny thing about glaciers. They are always moving, you just can't see it.

First, there was a concert where we had about ten minutes together. There were pictures taken and as I drove home I thought "at least if I never see her again, I have tonight and I have pictures of her and my daughter. I can be okay with this small thing."

A year later, there was another concert. We had a little more time and I felt a crack in the ice. I felt the glacier beginning to thaw.

I wrote a story about that night. Through my writing I hoped I could convey everything that I had been unable to say during the years.

And somehow, we began again. Emails back and forth, she began to read my blog, she began one of her own. On her birthday we slammed back more than a few martinis. We laughed. And talked. Just two friends hanging on lower Greenville Avenue.

Sisters.



I was fortunate to see my sister perform yesterday afternoon. This is one of a few pictures I posted on Facebook. A very gifted, professional photographer who is a friend of my sister tagged this photo with "love".

My sister and I are so different. We have chosen different paths. Our lives intervene to make a quick cup of coffee a major undertaking.

However.

We share a history.

And we are family.

I love you, A. Have a wonderful time and safe travels down under.