Skip to main content

Happy birthday, little sister.

28 years ago, a little three and a half year old girls dreams came through.
She was given a little sister, a human doll for want of a better description.
It is very important work you know, being a big sister,
and this three year old took her role very seriously indeed.

As two sisters go, they couldn't have looked more different.
One was a fiery blue-eyed ginger with freckles galore.
The other was a sallow, brown eyed brunette.
But despite their differences they were sisters.
Close sisters.


There were similarities...

Both could be rather silly at times.



They both obsessed over 'The Sound of Music'.
They both loved a practical joke and a good giggle.
Both loved cats.


Over the years, there were dramatics.
Like when the younger sister and her friend ate all the elder sisters easter eggs, and blamed the elder sister, despite a chocolate trail of truth.
Or that time when the younger sibling disapproved of the elder siblings make up, and told her that just because she lived on the docks she did not have to look like a hooker!
But they were sisters. 
They secretly loved each other, foibles and all.

They dressed up...


They picked on their brother...


And their aunts...

It really was the best gift a three and a half year old could have been given.
Her own baby sister.

Unfortunately, the gift wasn't to last forever.
It lasted 17 years and 19 days.
When the elder sister lost her little sister broke her heart.
It destroyed her spirit.
It made her hate a world which could give so much and take it away so cruelly.

Then she learnt a very important lesson.
Life is about quality, not quantity.
While it would have been wonderful to have her little sister around for much longer,
Those 17 years were 17 wonderful years. 
They were full of love.
Laughter.
Tears
Hair pulling
Giggling
Gossiping
Name calling
The occasional kick to the shins.
The odd snowball fight


17 years is a long time.
17 years was for the little sister a lifetime.
For years the elder sister hated November. 
Hated that it symbolised what was given and then taken.
Now, she celebrates it.
Celebrates the day that she was given the best gift any child has ever been given.
The day she was given her own baby sister.


Thank you for 17 years and 19 days of knowing you.





Little Sister
I have one question on my mind
that has lingered there for years.
The answer is one that I'll never find
and thats the reason for my tears.
Why did He take you Marguerite?
Why couldn't You have stayed?
I hear your laughter- it sounds so sweet-
however I am afraid.
I'm afraid someday I'll forget your smile
or that your memory will disappear.
I know that that would take a while 
but I will always live in fear.
I'll always love you little sister
I hope you know just how much I've missed you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 years and counting....

It is that time of the year again, my sister's anniversary. 12 years since we bid her farewell.
Well, tomorrow is her anniversary but I am having a very lazy morning and as a result I am writing this today.

For the past 11 years, the entire month of November has been a struggle for me.
In the beginning it was a raw struggle. Every single day from the 10th (her birthday) to the 29th (her anniversary) was like a hot blade slicing through my heart.
I think it is because the loneliness of not having her with us to celebrate her birthday is intensified by the fact that her anniversary is so close, and there is an awareness and an emotional surge in the three weeks between that just lingers in my subconscious.
Now, I definitely do become very low for those three weeks, but it is much easier to bounce out of it as we approach the anniversary and I realise that my irrationality of the last three weeks was simply bottled up emotion from the remaining 49 weeks of the year.

This year was a t…
Post a Comment
Read more

The day I got a little sister.

Last night, as I got the bus home from work, I got really choked up as the clock turned midnight. Perhaps because I'd been checking product dates all day, I was painfully aware of what date I was stepping into, or perhaps because I had just returned from a trip to Ireland I was painfully aware of it all. I don't know. It's not important.

When I went to bed last night, I started to think about my sister a little more. A lot more. I remember the day she was born. Isn't that weird? I was only 3 years old but I remember. Mam was on the phone from the hospital to Da, and he asked my brother and I if we wanted to speak to our mammy. Naturally we both jumped at the chance to say hi. Our telephone at the time was in the hallway and was a few feet from the ground, so my brother and I had to stand on a chair to speak into it. As the eldest I went first and gushed and oohed as I thought was appropriate. I hopped off my chair and gave the floor to my brother. I was unprepared for…
2 comments
Read more

Let's talk about mental health

I must admit I am a little bit nervous about writing this blog today.
I am afraid that I will get a little too emotional when writing about a topic that is very close to my heart.
I will apologise now for if I ramble or get lost in a stream of consciousness. I hope you can make sense of what I am about to write.

This week, another life was lost to the tragedy that is suicide. I should correct myself, a famous life was lost to suicide. I have no doubt that this week, many families around the world are grieving and trying to figure out why one of their own has taken their own life.

The reason that I want to write this post is simply down to the number of horrible and ignorant comments that I have read on social media about Chester Bennington's death. For me, it highlighted the lack of understanding of mental health in this day and age.

I'm going to take you back on a wee journey with me and tell you why this is such a personal topic and why I feel that it needs to be spoken abou…
Post a Comment
Read more