Sisters by Choice

Kendra Turley, Online Manager|September 15, 2015

Three sets of eyes watch me, two blue, one brown, waiting for my approval. All three are hopeful, looking up at me, pleading. They stand as one, expecting a yes but prepared to stand together against a no. As I open my mouth to give them my answer, all three faces light up in excitement.

“Yes, I am staying home for college.”

The smiles grow bigger and bigger, their eyes wide with happiness. I am attacked by the three of them, wrapped in a big bear hug. This is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.

These girls are not my sisters, but they very well could be. My three little blonde ones, as I affectionately call them, are my neighbors. Having known them since I was seven years old, we’ve become a family, us four. And despite the four year age gap between the three of them and I, our closeness has never frayed.

As the oldest, they often look to me for advice. When they were younger it was usually about a rule that their parent had set that they didn’t particularly care for, or a drama situation with a sibling. But now that they’ve grown older and are young teens, the advice has gotten more necessary and more serious. For example, when one of the girls had to have their dog put to sleep, she confided in me, not because she thought I had some way of fixing the problem like I usually do, but because she knew I had gone through the same thing before. It became a daily discussion, me asking how she was doing, her answer always the same: “I’m okay.” It wasn’t until two weeks after their final visit to the vet that I realized how much she trusted me, when I found out that she had not said a word to another soul.

That isn’t to say that these three haven’t helped me in ways as well. After a long day at school, or a rough day babysitting, the innocence that these girls still have left is a comfort. An escape. A reminder that while today might’ve been bad, tomorrow will be better.

As I head towards college and they to middle school, we all worry what the future will bring. We already struggle to make time to see each other every day. Who knows what things will be like a year from now?

Worries aside, all we four can do right now is spend as much time together as possible. That at least, should suffice for us all when the future does come. For now, I’ll continue to make time for my girls and spend the next year enjoying our movie nights and bonfires, knowing that someday I’ll look back on it all and be grateful for the memories I have.