Monday, January 23, 2012

A tale of two sisters

Sister and I

I come from a big family. I have six younger sisters and two younger brothers. You do the math. Growing up, I never really thought about them much except that they were a bunch of kids I had to put up with, look after and get along. Aside from that tiny detail about having the same last name and coming from the same set of parents, we are different.

I can't say I have a favorite sibling or doted one more than the other. Of course, after having witnessed one sister arrived after another, every couple of years or so, the birth of my two younger brothers were more than welcome. And I even get to named the youngest one.
With my number one support crew (?)

But what I'm going to tell you is not about all of my younger siblings. It's about me and this particular sister of mine. She's not my favorite or anything. It's just that we get along well that even if we're extremely opposite from each other, we still get to have fun.

Our grandmother doted on both of us, so that's something we sometimes talk about and reminisce the good memories we had with our cool granny. My sister and I  never had a huge fight well, except for that time when I was so angry at her that I threw all her stuff out from our room. Oh, and there was another time too, when we both got into a heated argument that we ended up hitting each other. But the next day, all was okay again. And we talked and laughed like nothing happened.
We plan our days together in a way that  we'd make the most of our time. Well, it's really me that's always saying this "Hurry up, sister!"

I really have no clear memories of my sister and I growing up together since I'm just three years older than her. We all have weathered various trying times in our life. Deaths of our beloved grandmother and father. Then the births of our nieces and nephews.

When she left for Canada, five years ago, something was amiss in our family. Still, life goes on, my sister embraced the role of a breadwinner, albeit reluctantly. And somehow, I also miss her company. Four years later, I followed her.
To start off 2012.

Looking back, I realized that we're meant to be together. Although, we don't get to see each other often, we always have loads of fun when we hang out. Tiya told me once that, it was meant to be, so we can have each other to lean on, especially on crappy times.

I'm sure that we get along fine not only because we are sisters. I guess it will be boring and not much fun if we have the same likes. Though it would have been  nice if  she also like running but I don't begrudge her that.
Yes, we are.

When I badly needed a good laugh, I go and see her. And not because she's funny-looking or something. It's just that when I'm around my sister, even the simplest thing or occurrence can be a source of fun. Whenever we hang out, we manage to talk and laugh just about anything. Then before we know it, it's time for me to go.

I don't think about how it would have been different if my sister is not here. I'm glad that she is. One day, I complained about how we're working hard and don't have the time to enjoy it. She simply said, "Let's make the time." 

Good call, sister. :-)




Sunday, January 15, 2012

reads to start off 2012

Waiting for me ( not in vain, I hope )
If reading can be compared to taking a swig of alcoholic drink then, I'm in a perpetual daze of inebriation. Lately, I've been reading a lot and it helps that the local public library is just within walking distance from the house. Sometimes, I pick up books while out for a short run.

I decided to do away with the usual "resolution" thing that is always seem overrated at the start of every new year. Instead, I came up with this idea to write something about the books I've read lately. I'm still doing the POST-IT thing but I have yet to fill in the first page of my BOOK JOURNAL. I'm lazy, I know.

So, to begin with, I've read three books so far ( and more to come, hopefully ) I get them from the library ( now you can imagine, how my life would have turn out if this 'favorite haunt' wasn't conveniently located )

The Clan of Cave Bears ( Jean Auel )
A very slow read for me. Took me more than a week to finish this one. And I had to read another book in between to get away from it, for a bit. To break the monotony and somewhat dull pace of the story.

What keeps me going? It was interesting and you not only get to read fiction, per se, but also learn about the prehistoric people and all. And there's always that nagging thought to find out what happen next.

The Secret Letter of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari ( Robin Sharma )
I read this one in  while reading The Clan of Cave Bears ( of course, not at the same time ). I requested this from the library a few months ago. Finally, when it was available, I started reading it, the same day I picked it up. Well, I stayed in the library for a couple of hours at that time.

A great read for me and truly inspiring. I stick POST-IT notes on different pages of the book, filled with phrases I like.

A Secret Kept (Tatiana De Rosnay )
After I've read "Sarah's Key", Tatiana De Rosnay's first book, I know then, that I like the way how she writes. It just took me more than a day to finish "Sarah's Key" and the same thing happened with "A Secret Kept".

A fast-paced read and something I can't easily put down and wait for another time to get back to it. Yes, I stayed up until midnight with this one. And save the few remaining chapters for the next day.

Anyway, this enjoyable activity has keep me preoccupied so far, aside from my other love. :-)

Who says reading is boring?