Siblings Day and other tortures...

So Facebook made up this holiday - or took advantage of some crazy list of "holidays" and wanted to see who would "obey" the mandate to post pictures of siblings.  Has Facebook taken the place of Hallmark?  You know, with Grandparents' Day and then making cards to sell for that holiday?

How many of you went through your pictures to find pictures of your siblings, or your kids all in one picture?  Of course I did!  I only have about 25 albums and several boxes of pictures so it was no big deal to go through all of those.  Really, it wasn't!

After 2 hours of flicking through pictures and seeing every shot but the ones I wanted, I just went with the first one I found of my kids...from the nineties, Christmas time.  It was cute, and had all of them in the same frame.  But you know how you look at old pictures, and you can see that day or that hour or that minute in your mind's eye?

I couldn't see it at all.  I remember the clothing the kids wore, the army plastic hat one kid was wearing.  I remember the little Santa creature on my parents' mantel of their fireplace.  But Christmas Day that year?  Nope.  Not at all.

So, immediately I think I must have dementia, right?  Cause I should remember every Christmas, and every event that ever happened in my whole life, right?

Then, I step back and keep looking for more pictures...maybe a shot of me and my sisters, all together but not in a wedding picture.  That's when I realize that I have so many memories of times that are in no pictures at all.  Who takes pictures of every fun time, or every sad time, or every time anyway?

Now, of course, with our instant cameras, we take so many more pictures, don't we?  At the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday, people were shooting every work of art everywhere.  Did those people even look at what they were taking pictures of?  Or was the only thing they saw on their phones?

The hunt for sibling pictures also brought up my missing sibling...the one that isn't with us anymore.  The missing sister that will always be missed, not just on Facebook's sibling day, but every day.  And I think of all those siblings who are estranged from each other, and haven't spoken in years and don't plan to.  I think of my Gramma, who missed her sister who passed, and who missed her sister she only spoke on the phone with for years.  I think of my Aunt, who is the only remaining sister, but may not even know that anymore, as she passes into the world of dementia herself.

I think of our kids, and the troubles over the years that all siblings go through, and hope with all my being that our kids will always speak to each other and always love each other without reservation, without rancor.

I know I don't have dementia (well, not yet anyway).  I know I love my sisters, one here, one not here.  I am thankful to have my sister in love as well. I know I love my sisters of the heart, who thankfully are here with us for this day, and hopefully more.  And I know the next time I have all our kids in the same place at the same time, I will take at least one picture of them together, and the next time I see my sister who is here, I will make sure we take at least one picture together, and the next time I see my sisters of the heart, that will involve a picture as well.

But I will also look at them, and love them, and talk with them, and make memories that don't require photographs.

Comments

  1. Just MeApril 24, 2016 at 10:23 AM

    Thank you. When I read your work, I can feel my heart.

    ReplyDelete

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