I forgot. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I forgot. I forgot what it feels like to have my sisters there with me every single day. I forgot what it sounds like to live my life along side them and share anything and everything that comes to mind. I forgot how much I counted on them. How much I need them. How much I look up to them. I may have taken a different path in life. I may not be exactly like them. But I admire their hearts, their minds and their kindness and they have never once made me feel like I didn’t belong.
My sisters. My two beautiful sisters. They are the best people I will ever know. From the way they love their children, to the way they communicate with their husbands and all the way to their thirst for knowledge and learning. My sisters are my moral compass and I don’t think they even realize how their goodness and strength influences me every day.
Over the last two weeks, I basically lived at their houses. I was in Israel, alone, but I was never really alone and in the first time in my adult life, it felt like I had family right where I was. I didn’t have to get into a car and drive two hours, I didn’t have to run off to work or stay in a different apartment. They took me in for two weeks and I got to be a part of it all. I saw the chaos in the morning of getting five kids off to school, the calmness of the afternoon when they quickly got things done and right back to the craziness of homework, dinner and dance parties. In other words, my sisters are both an awesome combination of the energizer bunny and real life super-heroes. Somehow they do it all and still had time to check in with their baby sister.
It brought me back to a time where we all lived under the same roof. Where we would come up with Ritz commercial ads and try to sell it, slide down the stairs and call in Mattress Mountain and even bake brownies and cookies every Friday for Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner. It is easy with them to just be myself. They accept me and love me unconditionally. They support me and I try with all my heart to do the same for them.
As I waved goodbye to them on Saturday night with a backpack on each shoulder and my huge pink, rolling luggage trailing behind me, I couldn’t believe how quickly this visit came and went. I was struck with the overwhelming understanding of how lucky I am to have the best sisters a girl could ask for. No matter what happens in my life, I know I have them and that’s something I will always be thankful for.
