Sisters
W
&
Brothers
hat is it about family that makes us so similar
and so different from other relationships. Here we
have my mom Barb and her sister Nancy. I’ve known them my whole life since I could open my eyes--but
not really since I was two. Nancy I think I didn’t know until much later. Mom lived her whole life in Michigan and Nancy mostly in Florida. They are now 85 and 87
T
years young respectively, and still act giddy like kids joking about little things, different lives they have had and telling old stories that seem new to me. I learned all about their lives, and a lot about ailments. hen there is Tim, my twin. We began with a
tangled life -literally - during the womb days. Growing up, we shared a room, worked together cutting lawns, painting houses, plowing driveways. After going to separate colleges, Tim went into the landscaping business in Michigan selling cow manure, and I went into advertising in NYC--selling Bull S#@t. He stayed
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in MI. I kept moving East from NYC to CT, MA and NH. When we are together, the same silliness occurs. At 55 and 55 plus 8 minutes, we are at the age where we talk about ailments--with a lot of denial involved. nd then there is Kathy and her sister Ann who I have known for only a year really. They both have
places in Florida and New Hampshire. And everywhere they go anywhere in the world, they have a special photo pose which by now could fill volumes of books.
I
What I do know is together they always have fun and smile a lot. Just like mom and Nancy and Tim and me. can’t say that smiles can’t endure as much with
other people, friends, partners, coworkers, husbands with wives who have known each other for as many years. For sisters and brothers, is it because we’re stuck with each other no matter what that makes us happy? Is it that we share the same past- the same stories? Is it genetic? I’m not sure. For whatever reason, cherish it. Maybe if we can all be sisters and brothers in life, just maybe we would all be happier. ~Michael Travis.