Friends

I was not a very nice big sister. And I'm pretty sure I've confessed this in a blog post before. There was the time I promised Jen that she would be able to fly if she drank a special potion I made. The concoction was a blend of orange juice, milk, mustard, ketchup, and small chunks of peanut butter sandwich. She drank it (or more accurately, gagged it down)...and, of course, she didn't fly.

But that was nothing compared to the way I treated my baby sister, Katie. There were times when I was just plain mean. I called her names, I made fun of her, and tried to embarrass her when her friends called on the phone. The sad thing was, no matter how mean Katie tried to be in reciprocation, it never worked. With six years difference, it was impossible for her to hurt my feelings.

Once I left for college, and "grew up," my sisters and I became good friends. Thankfully, they have forgiven me, and now we laugh about my legendary big sister mistakes.

We can always hope that our children will turn out better than ourselves, right? I guess I've been thinking about these things lately because of all our close-quarter snow days. Sure, there have been brawling moments when I have to be more of a referee than a mother. But it warms my heart to see the friendship that is flourishing between my oldest daughter and my youngest daughter.

Here they are on one of our snow days, pretending the fruit rolls are long tongues.
Madi and CJ (we've graduated from Baby C). Their personalities are frighteningly similar. Both are high energy, both thrive on a certain amount of silliness, and both love to laugh. It is not uncommon to find these two wrestling on the floor, crouching in a corner to hide from monsters, or snuggling together on the couch with books piled up around them.

I hear Madi practicing the piano now, and I can hear CJ's tiny voice asking her to play.

One can always hope...right?