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Monday, August 1, 2011

Sisters

 They are so different from one another, like chalk and cheese. One might suspect that they are not even related, so different are their faces, colouring, build, and personalities. 
Their relationship was off to a rocky start, being born 21 months apart. Margot was unwell as a baby, and Violet treated her as the usurper she was. They have fought and scratched and bit, they refuse to share, they pick fights and scrap over clothes and toys.


Imagine my joy when we were walking out of the beach yesterday and I overheard this conversation:

Violet (hugging Margot): Look, mom...she's as tall as my heart!
Margot: (wrapping her arms around Violet) My sister...
Violet: I'm your big sister...
(Violet takes Margot's hand and sets off down the path, as I grab the camera)
Margot: My big sister...
Violet: Sometimes I slap you. Sometimes I bite you.
Margot: Yeah.
Violet: Sometimes you slap me and bite me. But sometimes we're nice to each other.
Margot: Yeah.


They continued on down the trail, till their voices came to me in fragments, Violet pointing out this leaf or that bird to Margot, helping her little sister up when she fell and brushing her knees off, encouraging her when she lagged.
I watched them as they made their progress away from me, with joy in my heart for this moment of peace between them.

7 comments:

  1. OK, that little conversation could have seriously come from my own two (oldest). They do have these brief moments of clarity and the bond is so sweet!

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  2. Now that is a sweet post!
    And, as someone whose two eldest girls are coming out the other side - the side where the friendship is more obvious than the animosity, this is how it all starts.

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  3. Chalk and cheese--good one. My sister and I: two years and two weeks; she was an overseas missionary while I was the wild child and that goes all the way back to our childhood wherein I tagged on with eighteen-months-older-than-I brother Mike, leaving her to find a way of her own. Now she is gone-died three years ago at 49 and three weeks. The missing cuts so deeply every day still. I hope that your girls will develop a relationship that will keep them in each others’ lives.

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  4. Chalk and cheese pretty much describes my sister and I--hair colour and texture, build, lifestyle choices, and I`m 7 years older. But there must be something alike, our 4 year old nephew calls us both by the same name, and told our brother (his dad), that he can't tell us apart because we are so much alike :) Bless you for celebrating their differences! That's one of the greatest gifts we can give our children, the right to be themselves.

    Sweet pictures, by the way. So cute!

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  5. Lynda......love and a cyber hug to you. Your comment above brought a tear to my eye. I am the middle one between two sisters. They seem to be more alike in looks, life styles, etc. I was the odd ball but as we get older, I see similarities between myself and both of my sisters and I can't even fathom my life without them in it. Great post, Steph!

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  6. *love*
    someday when they are all grown up you'll have hilarious beautiful stories to tell them!

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  7. Ah, how very very lovely! The pictures really capture the magic that was going on there. Beautiful! X

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