Anita is always on the left, not sure why, but that is the way it is here. She sits on the left in each photo.
She is left handed, as am I.
I am filled with grief. I cry on and off for several days now.
Because of the way she lived, I knew that she would go first and no more than second. We have 7 siblings and in varying degrees, we all chose our deaths at very young ages. For her it was alcoholism. When she got hepatitis, I wasn’t surprised, her unwillingness to complete treatment did surprise me. She was unrelenting in her addiction to alcohol. For several years she added cocaine into the mix.
In her twenties she had violent relationships with violent men. I often told my husband that she would cause me great sadness.
After mom died in 1996, I didn’t want to be around my sisters. I felt betrayed by the insensitivity (of course, we were all that way). Over the next fifteen years, after I left our hometown, I tried to stay away from them, particularly the twins, of which my dying sister is one.
I often thought that I could distance myself, that by being indifferent I could get away from being hurt by them.
I was oh so wrong.
I’ve never quite figured out love, or how it works. I don’t understand why I instantly love someone and not so much with others. I just don’t get it. As much as I tried not to love this woman (my sister) I did not help myself. I love her and I grieve for her now.
So I love these people, my sisters, whether I like it or not. To add an extra layer of fear, she is my “little” sister. How can that be so? How can she precede me into the darkness, into the space of no more?
I will give her what I can in her dying days. I will remind her that she is loved by others, whether she loves herself or not. I will communicate my love and I will leave no doubt. Oh my dying sister, you are leaving so soon, could we not have been different in that long ago time when we were all blondes? I miss you now and I will miss you then. Our love did not end, and now, I am happy that it did not. I am glad that I love you and that you hurt me still.
