According to the internet, the first Sunday in August is National Sisters Day! Many of my friends and cousins had sisters, but I was the only girl in the middle of two brothers.  (You can read more about that in the blog, Brotherly Love, located in the February Archives.)

Growing up, I never longed for a sister. I believe it was for several reasons. When I was very young, my little brother played everything a sister would have from Barbie dolls to house. As a teenager, my cousin Lisa spent most of the summer at my home, so I had a temporary sister. In addition, two weeks out of the summer Karla and I stayed together.  Obviously, when I went off to college, I had my fill of females in my dorm. Who needs a sister?

Mama

When I lost my mama in February 2007, I realized the reason I never yearned for a sister was because she was that “sister” figure in my life. She was my confidant, shopping buddy, shoulder to cry on, psychologist, and more. Mama was the one to call when there was an embarrassing question that I didn’t want to ask anyone else. She always had advice about my kids. She knew me inside and out. But when Mama died, despite my close cousins and friends, I felt a gaping hole. 

Karla was always there for me, above and beyond, but over the course of the year, after Mama’s passing, I really became aware of what it meant to have a sister. I had watched it from afar. I saw Karla, who had lost her mother a few years prior, and her three sisters.  During the months and years after their mom died, she always had her sisters checking on her, helping her, loving her, and grieving with her. Over the years, Karla had become the sister I never had. But, wow she had three. When one couldn’t be there, another stepped in. My brothers are wonderful and would do anything for me, but there are things that boys just don’t understand. Now that mama was gone, I realized how special a sister was. 

Sisters

One day, I expressed my feelings to Karla about how lucky she was to have sisters. I believe it was the next day that I received a text from Lynn, Karla’s oldest sister and the Matriarch of our generation. It stated that I was now a sister to them. I smiled at the gesture and knew Karla had shared with them my thoughts, but didn’t really think a lot about it. But over time, I came to realize it was not just a “gesture”. I began to be included in group texts between the sisters. They began treating me as if I was one of them. And the thing that melted my heart was that all of their children began calling me “Aunt Donna”.

I was not fortunate enough to have a birth sister, but God has blessed me with multiple sisters, and I didn’t even have to share my clothes with them growing up! But as you can see from the picture, mine probably would have been a little too short for them.