My Sister

My sister has an identy other than my sister. Her name is Diana. It is a name I selected for her after hearing our parents mull over every name in the free world. I was watching Wonder Woman and I suggested the name Diana. For those of you who may not be familiar, Diana was Wonder Woman's alter ego. We always joke that you know your sister is a lesbian when you are named after Wonder Woman.

I was seven when she was born. My first memory of her was holding her in the front seat of our station wagon while coming home from the hospital. My dad was driving. My mom was looking at us. It is only now that I can imagine the thoughts in her head as she watched her children together for the first time.

I remember Diana looked like an Eskimo. She had black, spiky hair. I could barely see her eyes because her face was so swollen due to water retention. My mom developed diabetes while pregnant with Diana hence the water retention. Diana almost died when she was born. She had lots of problems. Mom still lives with the condition. She takes shots daily. This is something I like to remind Diana of regularly. If mom had not been pregnant with her she would not have diabetes. I did not give her diabetes when she was pregnant with me. You can feel the love as you read this can't you?

I wanted a sibling badly. I wanted someone to take a bath with. That was my whole objective in wanting a brother or a sister. Just a bathing partner. Things were good for the first 18 months. I could not wait to come home and see her. If she was sleeping I would sneak into her room and shake the crib. I would run out and wait for her to cry and then go in and get her. I would kill me if I were my parent. My mom is a saint.

Then she began to walk, talk, get into my stuff and want to play things she wanted to play instead of just playing what I told her to. We did not like each other for the next 15 or so years. I thought she was a wimp who was scared of everything. I would lock her out of the house in the winter. She would spit food on me from the balcony of our home.

Then my parents divorced and we were the only ones who knew how it felt. We bonded. Today we are very bonded. We speak almost everyday on the phone. We speak kindly. I do not lock her out and she does not spit at me. We have a very good relationship. She lives less than two miles from us. We like to do things together. Mom does not have to force us anymore. She is my best friend.

She just got married. I am very happy for her. Her wedding was a huge target date for the kids coming home. We really wanted them to be home for her wedding. It was an incredible day for our family. I knew it would be and we wanted Gormah and Kuker to be a part of it.

Gormah and Kuker arrived two months before the wedding. They were very excited to be part of the wedding. They were counting down the days since they arrived. The wedding came. The kids were home and we were scared to death. Would Gormah throw a fit? Would the boys make it down the aisle without tackling each other? The only one we were not worried about was Kennedy. Kennedy who lives for all eyes to be on her. We knew she would thrive.

We were a nervous wreck. The time was gone when I would have liked to sabotage my sister's day. She deserved for this day to be perfect. The girls make it down the aisle and so far no fits were on the radar. The boys came down the aisle and Ben goes the wrong way to the front. Once at the front, Ben continually kisses Kuker who is telling him to stop. Ben continues and Kuker swats his face. Ben head butts Kuker. Lori and I are both in the wedding on the other side. We are clenching our teeth and trying to gesture for them to stop. I can only imagine what the pictures will look like. Rider's family has to separate them. They then sit on the ground and play with each other's shoes while using the ring pillows as weapons.

The ceremony is over. It is time to eat and dance. Our kids partied and were so happy. It was a great day. Lori and I started the day by saying "no matter what happens we are glad they are here for this" and we were. Very happy. It was the kind of day families live for. Beautiful memories. My sister is happy and we are happy for her. I will chalk that day right up there with holding her in the station wagon as we came home from the hospital.