'sisters are perfect'

Sunday afternoon, I ran some errands at Target with my bf.  While we were checking out, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the neighboring cashier who was chatting it up with a female customer.  The two were having a discussion about the customer's daughters, two young, shy and possibly embarrassed little girls who were huddled together and desperately waiting to leave.  

What perked my ears was the cashier saying to the woman not only that her daughters were so cute and sweet, but that it was obviously they were close, because 'sisters are perfect.'  The cashier then proceeded to talk about how she had two sisters of her own and how they were close, though not by distance, yet nothing was better than having sisters.

This made me smile, because it made me think about my own sister.  I grew up for a bit of time as an only child and I always thought and felt it was so lonely.  By the time I was soon approaching my early teens, my sister was born and I was so excited to have a playmate.  But being 8 years apart, it was difficult at times to play board games and the like that were meant for kids ages 10 and up when your playmate couldn't even read yet.

Even so, I never felt alone and many times, we made up our own games--like playing school where I'd 'teach' her different subjects or pretending to go camping with a tent we set up indoors.  More importantly, we had our own array of inside jokes.  Countless times we'd be giggling about everything and nothing, and my mom would ask us what's so funny and we'd just say, 'nothing.'  To date, that's still our response.

By the time I left home for college so far away, my sister so was so young, not even having hit her teenage years yet.  By the time she reached high school, I was already all grown up with a real job and my own apartment, still living so far away from home.  Sometimes I feel like I missed out on so much not having been there and only hearing stories about everything in her life (not always even from her) and I felt so bad.  Like I wasn't there enough when she needed me, just to laugh or even to cry.

Then the unthinkable happened and fate stepped in and oddly enough, my sister ended up not only going to school in my same city, but at my own alma mater!  What are the chances??  Fate, you are a funny thing.  And let me say, it has been nothing but AWESOME.  We get to do all of the coolest things we always wanted to do, whenever we've wanted to do it, and best of all, I get to see and spend time with her bunches.  I feel so blessed that things worked out this way, and I think I never realized how hard it actually was being apart for all of those years when we were both growing up.  I'm happy that we've been given the opportunity to make up for lost time and that we haven't changed one bit.  Still as crazy as we used to be!

I've only been thinking about this more lately, with the way the past few months have gone.  The Fall semester has been so busy for her that we haven't been able to do as much together as we would've hoped and it's been sad and lonely at times.  Luckily we're able to talk daily and still share in the laughs and the stupidity that somehow finds its way into our lives, but it's just not the same sometimes when you can't physically be together.  I can't wait until her semester ends and she'll finally get a break to recover from this terrible few months and enjoy the holidays and super festivities!!

It's been a bizarre weekend.  One that didn't quite start off that well.  After months of waiting with anticipation, Bar results were released on Friday night.  Unfortunately, my name wasn't on the pass list.  It was really a surreal feeling to enter in my information to see if it did, and even though I knew I probably didn't do it wrong, I kept re-entering the information over and over again after the fact, thinking maybe there was a slight chance I screwed it up and maybe my name really was there!  Of course, I was only kidding myself and the past few months of living in ignorant bliss came crashing down and reality set in that yes, I had failed at something and yes, I would be studying yet again for the next few months only to do this all over again come the end of February 2011.  I'm not sure that it's really hit home yet or that I've accepted this fate, but I'd like to think I have some renewed faith, hope, and motivation to work hard and find my name on the February 2011 pass list when that time comes.  It's going to be a very long road ahead, but I know I have the support to help me through it.

When I found out my disappointing results, I was so happy that my sister was here.  Even if not physically at that exact moment, she was with me in spirit and talking to me through the entire evening.  My first mission on the road to recovery after this disappointment was to fill my head full of Hello Kitty and Sanrio goodness at the Small Gift LA show on Saturday in Santa Monica.  The show celebrated Hello Kitty and her fellow Sanrio friends for the Sanrio 50th anniversary this year and it was FABULOUS.  I was so happy that we all got to go together (my sister, my bf and me) as it was one of the first times in the past few months we've been able to hang out and just forget about all the crap in our lives.  And who can be unhappy when being filled with cuteness overload??  It was good and amazing therapy.

I'm looking forward to the adventures that await in just a few weeks once her finals are done.  It'll be good just to re-group and re-charge and think about things to be thankful for and get into the holiday spirit.  But just seeing those little girls today, hearing what that cashier had to say, and thinking about what an emotional rollercoaster this weekend has been made me feel really nostalgic and appreciative for all of the wonderful adventures, memories, and laughs we've shared through the years.

This is a picture of us from about a year ago or so, having our first ever sisters' day at Disneyland.  We went on a Thursday and were so excited to find the park relatively dead so we got to do a ton of stuff.  Actually, lines were so light that at times, we weren't even sure what to do with ourselves to fill the time, haha.  It was festive, magical, and just plain awesome.  And now that she'll be getting an annual pass this year, I can't wait for more awesome adventures and catching up on all of those years that I ever missed.

Remember 10 years ago when...

We had chocolate covered raisins

We were given a 'light bulb' plastic bag

You rolled your Radio Flyer car down the stairs

We built snow kitty

We were deflated, then inflated by TG Express

Your feet expanded from excitement

The lonely churro rotated slowly around

We always ordered extra crispies

You had some 'great turtles'

We rode California Screamin' 3 times in a row, hiding from mommy

We always (fill in the blank) like an asshole

We always had to check our slippers

We gee gee ja ja'd until the sun rose multiple times

Daddy collapsed into the pots in the kitchen

We discovered Cat Face

Daddy made catfish soup

We hid the Ikea snake repeatedly in mommy's bed to 'scare' her
We watched Baby Yun Zi grow up and fell in love with pandas

You got chicken soup :X

We meh yeah ((hand motion))

Thanks for always being there for me, spewbags.  Love you :)