Sibling Ties

This Wednesday, I’m spending the day at a casino.  Believe it or not, this will be the first time I’ve ever set foot in one.  It’s not that I have anything against gambling.  To me, it’s just another form of recreation.  I don’t have an addictive bone in my body (other than for food), so it’s not likely to become a vice.  I’m going for the food, the free drinks, and maybe for the cheap thrill I’ll enjoy pretending I might actually win a few bucks.  I’m going mostly because my little sister asked me if I wanted to go.

Sis and I don’t do a lot together.  She’s seven years younger than me.  We couldn’t be more different.  She takes after my mom.  I don’t know how much of it has to do with them both being the “baby” of the family.  I take after my dad’s side of the family.  When they say opposites attract, that was my mom and dad they were talking about.

I like to keep a low profile;  Sis likes to be noticed.  I love rock and alternative music;  Sis is into country and pop.  I’m a homebody and she likes to go out.  I had sons;  she had daughters.  She hates math, avoids computers, and when she was married, had absolutely no idea about the family’s finances.  Lucky she has me to help her now.

Even though we’re so different and don’t hang out all that much, there’s no doubt that we’re close.  She’s my sister and I’ll always be there for her.  I know she’ll always be there for me, too.  Whenever something exciting happens to one of my kids, you’d think it was her kid.  She screamed as loudly as I did when Oldest Son won his spelling bees and scholarships.  She brags about them and worries like a second mother when they do scary things, like join the Army.  I feel the same about her kids.   And I never fail to dispense my big sisterly advice.

What forms these family ties?  It’s not that we had tons of shared experiences growing up.  She was too young to hang out with my brother and I playing wiffle ball and riding bikes.  She was just the pesky little tween, more interested in our brother’s teen-aged friends, when I came home during college breaks.  We would probably never, even now, choose each other as friends.  But the family bond is there.  I see this with my boys, too.  You would have trouble finding three more diverse personalities, and yet they share a bond and a loyalty that’s hard to find.

It all kind of makes up for how annoying siblings can sometimes be.