A Mother Through the Eyes of Another

This post is dedicated to my sister who is also my other mother and the mother of my amazing nephew.

Never have I known such patient love. My sister deserves her own post because she is not just my sister, but was as I said, my other mother. Since we’re 10 years apart, she has had a significant (lucky for me) role in my upbringing. I don’t know quite how to describe my sister as a mother — just an incredible person. I know this because I have seen how she loves me, and how she loves her own child.

What I have found to be extraordinary is that I see how she loves my child … as if she were hers. She dotes on my little girl and Sophia loves her back. She “talks” about her all the time. Not a day goes by that Sophia doesn’t ask about her and it isn’t surprising. We see my sister’s hand everywhere in Sophia’s room; from the quilt she sewed for her baby naming to the rad raincoat she bought her.

One of the saddest days of my life was when my sister went away to college. I was sad for a long time. She was far away and it would be months before she would come home to visit. I remember wondering what she would be like when she came home for winter break. … and then, she came home and brought me lots and lots of board games. We played each and every one of them for as long as I wanted. From then on, for the next few years, my sister brought new board games for me every time she visited. I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait until my sister would be back from school for yet another break moments after she left. It was great and very little has changed since then; I still look forward to every one of her visits just as much. We don’t play many boardgames now, but we play with our children, we talk, and we laugh. We are at the same point in our lives — we are mom’s. In our minds, though, we are two little girls playing board games.