Sisters are forever and I'm so glad you're mine

My mom had a cup that said that when I was growing up. I'm thinking her sister sent it to her, because her brother doesn't seem like the kind of brother to show his love like that (Sending her dirty Irish jokes though? Yes. He loves her that much.) Much like my brother would never send me something that says that, but rather, he would smack me with a newspaper or tell me to be a lumberjack instead of a schoolteacher. Yes. He loves me that much. And yes, he's done/said both.
 
I'm getting distracted though. My post is about my sister...not smelly brothers who pay you to do his laundry so he can go on a date and then get mad and refuse to pay you when you maybe forgot to put the clothes in the dryer and he had to wear damp clothes on his date. (Yes. I love him that much and may have done that to him, but in my defense, I was 10 and totally horse crazy and hello? My friend wanted to go for a horse ride to the river, so yeah, saddle up and don't worry about my brothers raging teen hormones because hello again? Ten year olds don't care about that...)
 
Anyhoodle ... focus. Focus. Focus ... task at hand ... sisters ... must ... stay ... focused ... is that how you spell focussed? Or is that how you spell it? Hm. FOCUS WOMAN! FOCUS! My eyes (and probably yours, yes?) are glazing over.
 
*NEWS FLASH* This post does have a POINT! And it's coming in 3.....2.....1.............
 
A friend of mine has a sister who joined the Peace Corp. They assigned her to Romania. She's ecstatic about it, she's fulfilling a lifelong dream. My friend? Excited for her sister...miserable for herself. She is very close to her sister, and today is the day her sister leaves for orientation in DC, before going on to her final destination in Romania. My friend, J, has been surprisingly calm about it in the last few weeks...when she first found out about it last fall she was a nervous wreck, and so the closer it got the more nervous I thought she'd be, but not so much...until this morning.
 
Usually when we first get to work we exchange good mornings and weekend recaps, but this morning I could tell she was not up for talking much so I let her start any conversation and eventually it came out that today was the day her sister was leaving. Talking about it choked her up and made her teary. Later, out of nowhere (to me it was out of nowhere...to her, it was composing an email to her sister) made her choke up. Which, in turn, made me teary-eyed and sad for her. I wanted to get up and go grab her and hug the crap out of her, because I love this friend, and I feel so badly for her...because I know what it's like to be both excited and devastated at the same time. But instead I just sat there, not knowing how to reassure her. I did, however, text message my own sister and demand that she promise to never ever leave me, ever ever ever ever ever ever ever...again.
 
Because honestly? There was a period of time in my life, where I felt sister-less. There was a time I told my best friends sister (Also my best friend...) that she reminded me of my sister and that (at the time) she was more of a sister to me than my actual sister. (She responded by picking her nose and trying to wipe the bugar on me...which is so totally where I was at in High School that I felt it was an appropriate reaction at the time)
 
My real sister though? Is a-may-zing.
 
Dear Sister,
 
I love you. Thank you for coming back. I know you said you "learned your lesson" last time, but I also know how much you've gone through...I love you and think you are an amazing sister. Please don't ever leave me again. I know you won't...but in case you do, I'll be sad. And I maybe would even cry. But unlike last time, I would go to the end of the earth to find you and bring you back. Never again will I compress my feelings and avoid the reality of it. I would fight for you. But please don't make me. Even though I know you wouldn't. I'm just sayin...don't.
 
You're my best friend, in case I've never said it. Please don't join the Peace Corp and spend 27 months in a 3rd world country with limited cell phone reception and spotty internet...because...if you did that, imagine how it would effect me!
 
I love you.
Me (You know...your sister...the one that would be sad...if....you know...you joined the Peace Corp or...even....like, moved out of state...or worse, stopped returning my rambling text messages about quad shot latte's* and Cyndi Lauper look-alikes in the coffee shop...it would make me itch...nervous itching....lots of it...)
 
PS - And just because I'm all sentimental, doesn't mean I wouldn't rat you out to mom and dad for a Zinger and a quad shot Latte.
 
PSS - remember last Christmas? When you were here and it was snowing and we were kind of snowed in at the parents? I totally kicked your ass that night when I had you pinned on mom's kitchen floor and was dragging you out the back door into the snow. If I hadn't almost wet my pants laughing so hard, I would've HAD you in the snow. HAHAHA SUCKA!
 
 
*Quad shot latte. I had one this morning. I shook so hard, I almost bounced out of my office chair. I'm like Hammy from Over the Hedge.