I was fortunate to spend the last few days (Christmas, duh) with my beautiful sister and her sweet little family. And in case you're wondering, yes I cried my eyes out on the way to the airport.....and at the airport.....and some during security check....and then finally during take-off. Yes, I'm that gal. Y que? This is nothing new. But I felt a different kind of sadness when I left this time. As we drove to the airport I stared at my new nephew and remembered how small he was when I last saw him. He's probably tripled in size since then. I imagined how he would look the next time I got to see him, then I realized that I don't even know when the next time I'm going to see him is. How big will he be next time? Will he even know who I am? Then I thought of my sister and how much our lives have changed since she first moved to Chicago.
My first trip to Chicago was for Christmas when I was 19 years old. It was the first time I was flying by myself and I was on a mission: to be with my sister on her first Christmas away from home and make her smile after a scumbag made her cry. I don't even know how I paid for my tickets to get there. We ate, drank, shopped, ran around the city and did Christmas the way two single sisters do - dinner in Chinatown and a movie. Fancy. We cried when we parted and few weeks later she met my brother-in-law.
Needless to say this trip was completely different. Instead of shopping for the cutest tops for a night out, we shopped for the cutest toys for my nephew's first Christmas. Instead of cocktails and tapas, we had Emergen-C and leftovers. We stayed up late, 12:30 am, and lounged for longer than we should have. We did nothing. It was awwwwesome. It wasn't the trip we used to have, but then again we aren't the people we used to be either. We are grown-ups now. When did that even happen? How did we go from little girls racing down stairs for dinner to the ones actually preparing dinner? Unsolved mystery. However it happened, it happened and even though life has taken us to different places in the country, we are still in the exact same place with each other. She's still the one I run to when I'm scared or upset, and I'm still the one who makes her cry when I write about how my big sister is everything I want to become. She still makes me watch weird TV shows and I still make her do my eyebrows. She still threatens me with her fist, and I still kick her and run - we just do that a lot more quietly.
So yes, I cried again when I had to tell her, her family, and her city goodbye. I'm pretty sure I'll cry the next time, and probably the time after that too. Maybe one day she'll come visit me in some city unknown. We'll play and sing like we always do, and guess what will happen? We'll cry when we part. That's just what we do. Or maybe we'll be neighbors one day and never cry again....who knows? It could happen.
I arrived back in "The Texas" later than I expected last night and did something I hadn't done in quite some time. I spent the night at my dad's house. Since my old bedroom has a new occupant I stayed in my sister's old bedroom. Even though the walls have been repainted and there were hardly any signs of my sister there it took me back to the nights I would stand at her door until she gave me the "ok" to crawl into bed with her. I kept waiting to hear her yell at me for being in her room without her permission. It didn't happen, and we didn't sleep "big spoon to little spoon" either.
I've had some great Christmas', but none like this one... and none better than this one either. Perfect ending to my turbulent 2011. Now let's start the countdown to THE COUNTDOWN. (#2012midnightsociety)
Until next time,
A Charlie Gal
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