#40
HAVE A GIRLS WEEKEND WITH MY SISTER
An older sister is a friend and defender - a listener, conspirator, a counsellor and a sharer of delights. And sorrows too.
-Pam Brown
I have a sister, let's call her Jennifer G, that is four years older than I am. That is quite a big age gap when you're growing up. She was a moody teenager for what pretty much feels like my whole childhood, while I was the bratty, annoying, blackmailing, irritating little sister...and man, was I good at it.
Luckily our relationship started to change once I left school, she got married, had a baby girl and I went to University...pretty much when I started growing up. Maybe the distance did us good?
I know some sisters who only see each other on Mother's Day and some who will never speak again. But most are like my sister and me... linked by volatile love, best friends who make other best friends ever so slightly less best.
Today, my sister is one of my closest friends and confidants. I cherish the fact that I can tell her, ask or share anything without any fear of judgement, but still with the realisation that she will give me an honest opinion and advice, even though I might not want to hear it. We may not see each other as often as we like, but I know I can phone her up any time, day or night and she'll be there, no matter what. And isn't that the very definition of a sister? Somebody that will be there even though you might have screwed up or done something stupid...
To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.
We recently had an amazing birth-day. She turned 30 and as a gift I gave her a day. A husband and kid-(even though I love my niece to bits)-free day, no obligations, no responsibilities, just us for the day...doing absolutely everything and nothing (when I told my Mom about my plans for our 'girly' day, her response was, "But I'm a girl too"). She didn't have to drive anywhere and we ended off the day in Camps Bay...with cocktails...
We are sisters. We will always be sisters. Our differences may never go away, but neither, for me, will our song.
- Elizabeth Fishel
Now I would love to extend our day to a weekend. Just the two of us...a weekend filled with conversations, quiet, sun, laughter and special moments.
...here's to you...
She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.
-Barbara Alpert
#41
SKYDIVE
I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.
-Mary Oliver (Starlings in Winter)
Somebody is literally going to have to push me out of the plane. You think I'm kidding, I'm dead serious. But oh, how it must feel to be weightless, like you're really flying...
#42
MEMORIZE MY TWO FAVOURITE POEMS
My two favourite poems are...
Obviously one is an E.E. Cummings poem :). Probably the most well known one. I first heard it in the movie In Her Shoes, when Cameron Diaz's character reads it at her sister's wedding at the end of the film.
i carry your heart with me
-ee cummings
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
I had a wonderful English teacher when I was at high school. One day, as an assignment, we had to study this poem. The task was to explain what you thought the person reading the note would feel upon seeing it. Now, 11 years later, this poem is still beautiful in its simplicity.
This is just to say
-William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were
so sweet
and so cold.
I came across another beautiful poem the other day while watching the new Levi advert on television. The first line, 'Your life is your life', and the final line of the poem, 'The gods wait to delight in you', makes me feel like anything is possible.
The Laughing Heart
-Charles Bukowski
Your life is your life.
Don't let it be dubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but it beats
darkness.
Be on the watch.
The gods offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvellous.
The gods wait to delight in you.
Rachel
xoxo
