October 27th, 2008

Dear Friend,
Have I ever told you how beautiful my sister is? She is the kind of person that would take a bullet for any stranger if it meant they could go home that day and see their family one last time. Despite all her struggles and hardships she keeps an open mind about anything. I just know she is the person that can go to bed at night with a completely clear conscience.
I think about her and all of the things she has done and I think that she is the person whose living her glory days. She will look back on her life throughout high school at being the girls’ soccer team hero, her life through college and playing women’s professional football and her life now as she is halfway across the world educating those tiny children about this universe; and she will be able to tell herself that she made a difference. I wonder at what point in my life I will be able to look back on what I’ve done and see the difference I’ve made. Mostly I think my glory days are starting now as I am blossoming into this new independent being. I never scored the winning goal on a sports team, I never saved someone’s life, but everyday I wake up and try to be the best person I can. Maybe someday in my future I will be able to look back on these days and see the difference I have made in someone’s life. I think I would be proud to call those my glory days.
The reason I am talking about my sister so much is because she is really the only person I have ever been able to look up to no matter what situation she has ever been in. With the holidays around the corner and my sister halfway around the world it is hard for me to think about spending time with my extended family. I’m always surprised when there is so much going on and someone still finds space in his/her mind to be sad. It happens every year with my family. Someone, every year, has gone through some dramatic life changing event and as we are all sitting down to our Christmas dinners at my grandmothers retirement home in the mess hall (where it always smells like bologna) that person just breaks down into wailing sobs. The nearby aunt, uncle or cousin has to excuse themselves along with that person and everyone else stays behind to gossip. It is hard for me to understand why my family is always this way. It is harder for me to understand why someone’s holiday is always ruined by something they have been through. I have never been the person to break down in tears over Christmas dinner; no one in my immediate family has in fact. I guess that might say something about us. I just though I should share this, it seemed relevant. Really I wrote you because I miss my sister terribly and I don’t think the upcoming holidays will be the same without her.