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February 26, 2006
Am I My Sister's Keeper?
Apparently not.
My sisters and I are close. Very close. Really very completely close.
How close you ask?
So close that I carry a separate cell phone that I use only to talk to my sisters an my mother. We call it the Batphone and for quite a while I was required to answer it by saying, "Yes, Commissioner! This is Bat Girl."
So close that I generally know what color toenail polish each one of them is wearing and why.
So close . . . you get the picture.
So Sissy #2 sent out one of those e-mail surveys where you fill in stuff about your favorite color and your favorite movie and other stuff. Sissy #1 took one glance and deleted it because she doesn't have time for frippery like that. I, of course, read the whole thing and discovered that my sister's favorite dessert is peach pie.
Peach pie!
I have never once seen her eat peach pie. I have never heard her mention peach pie. One year when she was visiting during her birthday, I actually resorted to sticking a candle in the middle of giant bowl of Red Hots because that was the only sweet I could think of that she really liked.
Sissy #2 is a major carnivore. Family lore says she was bitten by a dog when she was two because she tried to steal a bone back from the dog because she wasn't done chewing on it herself. I am the one who craves sweets. Sissy #1 sensibly craves vegetables, fruit and cheese. Well, the cheese might not be sensible, but she is married to a French man so we have to make allowances.
So I wrote Sissy #2 back and said, "I am not filling out this survey because you lied on yours. You said your favorite dessert is peach pie. It's Red Hots."
"No," she wrote back. "It's peach pie."
"Since when?" I responded.
"Since forever."
So I went to the arbiter, otherwise known as Mommy. "What's Sissy #2's favorite dessert?" I asked.
"Some gooey chocolate thing," my mother said.
I knew that wasn't right. Sissy #2 isn't a chocolate person. When someone gave us a big box of Godiva chocolates, she actually preferred to read the descriptions of the chocolates to us while we ate them than eat them herself. Which, just so you know, is a wildly fun activity especially if the person reading the descriptions uses their best phone sex voice.
I asked Sissy #1 who knows everything. She said, "I have no idea. But then again, I can't remember what my favorite dessert is either."
Sissy #1 is, ahem, a little older than me. The memory thing has been going for a while. So I reminded her that her favorite dessert is carrot cake from Bakers Square and she was happy.
So I called Sissy #2 again and informed that she has no favorite dessert. She says I have to drop this or she's going to end up in therapy because no one in the family cares enough to remember that her favorite dessert is peach pie. My mother says I have to drop it because it's starting to annoy her. Sissy #1 doesn't remember that I've been obsessing about it anyway.
I can't though. I thought I knew everything about my sister and now I can't stop thinking about what else I might not know. What other secrets does she have?
So now I'm wondering, have you ever found out something surprising about someone you thought you knew completely? Was it an isolated thing? Or did it change everything?
Posted by Eileen at 12:18 PM | Comments (4)
Comments
It's about the husband... we've been together almost 12 years (married for the last 5)--he's afraid of heights!
The mans who straps on roller blades for the first time and speeds faster than a car towards a curb with no idea how to stop. Plays endless hours of snowwboarding games. A man who shows more adventure in his left toe than in my entire life. And he is afraid of heights.
I had no idea til we were jetting an elevator 7 stories up to get to our room for the night. He was pale faced, quivering, and sidling the door.
The things we learn.
Posted by: Bethany at February 26, 2006 3:38 PM
My older sister is 5 years my senior and I guess you could say I idolized her when I was a kid. I mean, she was pretty and talented, she was the editor of our school paper, the year book, AND homecoming queen her senior year of high school. She even designed a charicature of our school mascot (a knight on a horse) that was painted on the gym wall over our school song AND has been since used for years on stationary, t shirts, etc. How cool is that, I ask you! Anyway, she was graduated and almost married and she and my other older sister and I were driving into town for some reason and my other sister lit a cigarette. She was always the "bad girl" in the family, so I wasn't surprised, but imagine my shock when Sister #1 took it away from her AND STARTED SMOKING IT HERSELF!!!!!!!!! I was so shocked and disillusioned--I mean, just crushed by that! I couldn't believe that she would actually smoke... I guess I realized that day that my sister had flaws, albeit very miniscule ones, and that she could be bad if she wanted to! Did it change how I felt about her? At the time I know I did some serious re-evaluation of the whle "pedastal" concept, but since this seemed to be merely an aberration and not a habit I had to let it go. I think I did say something to her that shamed her somewhat because she was rather sharp with me about it, but I never saw her smoke again... Do I still admire her? Absolutely. She is a "woman without guile", according to a previous pastor, and he is right. My sister is awesome--I am a very lucky person to have her for a sibling!
Posted by: Sheri at February 26, 2006 4:12 PM
It is a shock, isn't it? You think you know everything about that person and then WHAMMO! they sneak something in on you!
Posted by: Eileen at February 26, 2006 5:29 PM
That's funny. Yeah I've been married ten years and I'm always finding stuff like that about my husband. We were several years into our marriage before I found out he played the trumpet. Not just played it now and again but actually won a scholarship to university because of his skill.
He isn't much of a talker obviously.
Posted by: gina at February 26, 2006 6:58 PM
