Sister Mission!
It’s National Siblings Day and most of you know I have 11 brothers and sisters. I thought I would write a post about just a few of the many times I’ve been grateful to have them in my life. I hope you enjoy.My siblings and I took mom out to brunch for mother’s day last year and we took some group pictures on my phone. A few moments later, I had to use the bathroom and mom asked to see the pictures we had just taken. Without hesitation I handed her my phone and scurried to the restroom with two of my sisters.While in the stall, it dawned on me, “HOLY SMOKES! Mom has my phone and if she scrolls too far up, she’ll see pictures I don’t want her to see!”I freaked and squealed my worry at the two sisters that were with me. My middle sister goes, “calm down, I got this.” She grabbed her phone and dialed our youngest sister who had stayed behind with mom and proceeded to call her calmly. “Hey! Sister Mission! Grab Rosy’s phone from mom.” *Pause* “Did you get it? Ok, great! Thanks.” Then she hung up. My oldest sister, then turns and tells me, “remind me to show you how to lock pictures on your phone. ”We proceeded to all wash our hands and go meet the rest of our party outside. My youngest sister handed me my phone back and we continued our casual conversation. To this day, none of them have asked me what pictures I was trying to hide from our mother that day. I LOVE THAT! I absolutely LOVE that my sisters and I have each other’s backs no matter how old we get or how silly the “sister mission” is and with no explanation required.My sister who is only nine months older than me and I have countless sister mission moments. Having grown up so close together in age, we could probably write a whole book on just our teenage years and our innocent mischievous behavior. When I recall one of our silly sister mission moments, I get tickled at how significant it was to cover up for the other at the time.At age 18 and 19 my sister and I decided to get piercings. She got her tongue pierced; I chose my navel. My piercing was easy to cover up, hers not so much. When avoiding our parents was inevitable and my sister had no choice but to speak to them, I’d answer for her while she pretended to have her mouth full of food or whatever other silly excuse we came up with at the time. Our shenanigan carried on for 4 months before my mom discovered both of our piercings. She made us come clean and tell our dad when he got home from work later that night. He made us feel incredibly guilty while giving us a "we're damaging our bodies speech," but somehow it wasn’t so bad because we had each other.I listed just a few other times I’ve been grateful to have siblings below. I can’t imagine having gotten through these moments without them.
That time our family was moving just around the corner to a new neighborhood and mom and dad insisted on packing this set of the ugliest lionhead fake marble pillars they kept on the front steps of our house. These things were random and we always hated them. My parents think they broke in the move. Sorry mom- we definitely threw these out after unsuccessful, hilarious attempts to break and smash them while you were preoccupied. They were God awful!
That time we were sad to leave our old house in Pennsylvania to move to North Carolina so all of us siblings decided to sleep in every room of the house together. Even sleeping on the kitchen floor, dining room, and hallway after our parents went to bed.
That time our parents wanted to go to the club as a family so my brother and sister and I sat in the corner of the club sipping our cocktails as we watched the parents dance away with the twenty somethings on the dance floor. They were adorable dancers, just glad I got to experience that with them.
That time we didn’t have a mother’s day gift so we collaborated and wrote mom a heartfelt poem in Spanish, English, and French. She was so impressed with our priceless gift. It’s still framed in her bedroom today.
Those times we re-enacted all our favorite scenes from the show “All That” and forced the adults to watch our homemade show. This must've been torture for them.
That time I had the flu and my only memories are flashes of moments in which my younger siblings gave me medicine as I laid on the couch feeling like death.
That time I told my science teacher I would watch our classroom mice for the summer, hid them in our basement until they had babies and we lost our minds trying to figure out how such a thing could've happened. Mom finally discovered the dozens of white mice in the clear tank that were stinking up our basement. We ended up trading in the mice for a pair of pet parakeets at the pet store. Sorry teacher and class. That one's on me.
Those times my older sister and I came home late and our younger sister covered for us with pillows under our blankets in our beds like we had seen kids do in movies. Yeah....that didn't work.
That time my brother uninstalled the light fixture from my favorite bedroom of our old house, wrapped it up in a blanket, and threw it in the U-haul truck without our parents noticing. This was all just because I loved it so much. Although I can't remember what ever happened to that light fixture, I appreciate you bro.
That time as a pre-teen teen I threatened to run away from home and my 6 year old sister chased me out the house. I turned around happily thinking she would ask me to stay but instead she blurted out, "Wait, wait! You forgot your toothbrush!" We still laugh about this today.
That time I got a stomach virus and didn’t make it to the bathroom. My little sister cleaned up all the vomit chunks off my parent’s new carpet as I laid in agony on the floor.
That time we lost our pet turtle fondly named Michael Jordan and all went searching for him. Mom always threatened to make turtle soup if he went missing. We blamed her for days and paid close attention while she cooked our meals for weeks.
Those times we were left home alone and climbed up on furniture, played hide and go seek in the attic and crawl space, snuck out the house, and all sorts of things. We knew when to expect our parents so we cleaned up ourselves and the whole house right before our parents came home. When we saw their car pass the house, knowing they had to make the obligatory U-turn to pull in, we all sat on the black wrap around couch in the living room in age order as if we were perfect angels and had done nothing but sit still the whole time.
Having a friend in my brothers and sisters is such a blessing. Whether we’re there for each other amidst health scares or disappointing news, challenging each other with weekly health initiatives, trading recipes, or to poke fun at one another, we have each other’s back. We call on each other for advice, a blown out vent session, moral support, and love. Being a sister is a beautiful thing and a role I don’t take for granted.I’m sure you can think of some innocent sister mission moments or funny moments you and your siblings share. Please tell me about them below. Happy National Siblings Day!
PS- Shoutout to my sister who helped me remember most of these moments.