Cloud Cuckoo

For My Sister

I have never known a time when my sister has not been a presence in my life. As the family's baby I have been privileged to have had siblings all my life. My sister has on occasion reminded my brother and I that she had four and a half years of being the single apple of our parents eyes. My brother and I got used to hearing her say how much attention she had received before her siblings arrived. Still I know that she would never have wished to have not had us in her life.

My mother never really trusted the relationship my sister and I developed over the years. Unable to be close to her own sister she would pass comments about our friendship as if we were unaware of the fact that six years separate us. My sister is unlike me in many ways. Organised, tidy, shy, gently spoken, financially responsible, meticulous and able to understand what the hell the instructions on a sewing pattern actually mean! I have envied her many things but have never felt that we were in competition over anything.

She was the first person to know that I had a serious boyfriend. It was she whom I first told I was pregnant with my daughters. She was the only person who came to see us after the birth of our first born. Even when she learned that she would not be able to bear children she celebrated her two nieces and helped me through difficult times. It was my sister who made sure that our parents knew that I was ill when they had chosen to take feuding to new levels. My sister has walked beside me, stood behind me, teased me, cheered me on, offered me counsel, sought mine and laughed with me.

Over the past decades she has been the one who has been the most accepting of who I was and who I am now. She knows that my failures have been many, my hopes and dreams not always achieved but she has never dashed my new dreams and hopes by decrying them because of past failure. It is to my sister I have turned at some of the saddest times of my life to find that she permits me the luxury of laughter when I decide to joke about reality.

My sister is a wonderful gardener, she displayed absolutely no sign of this talent as a teenager who would manage to disappear at the mere suggestion of garden work. She has always left her houses with beautiful gardens that must be loved by the new owners. I have never managed to achieve her level of success but I still hope to do so. Her dahlias at Eugene Street were staggering and live on in my memories. She has green fingers which when added to the knowledge she has acquired results in years of successes. Her new garden will no doubt be as wonderful as the others she has developed.

Ingie is relentless in defense of her family and those about whom she cares and unquestioning honest. She has a wonderful sense of humour which allows us to laugh together when times are difficult. Through both our life's she has been the one person who I know will understand me. I have not seen her in ten years and much has changed in our lives. She has been through some extremely harsh times and still kept close to me. I have missed seeing her but I know that as long as I walk the path of life she is with me as close as the image I carry of her in my heart.

So happy birthday Ingie May our teeth not fall out, may our gray hairs continue to grow and may our wrinkles remind us of all our blessings as we celebrate your six decades.