When I was 15, I put my 13-year-old sister in the bath.
Well, by “put” I mean pushed. You know, hard enough to make her wail and cry. Why did I do such a thing? Because she criticised my “bacne” (for those of you playing along at home, that’s back-acne… acne of the back) while we were getting ready for a party together.
“Don’t mention Michelle’s bacne” was essentially a family rule from when I was 14 to 17. Mum enforced this with an iron fist and yet Evelyn blatantly disobeyed it to my own freaking face/back. While Mum was nowhere to be seen. It was all very calculated.
Anyway, she ended up bruised in the bath and I ended up grounded until approximately last Wednesday.
I also recall a fun incident where my elder sister and I got into a fist fight over a pair of netball training shorts. She said they were hers, but I swear to this day that they were mine. Needless to say, we ended up battling to the death for them on the top of the stairs, Greco Roman Wrestling style (the 2008 Beijing Olympics was on at the time and we felt inspired). Maybe this is my imagination taking over but I’m pretty sure Claire dangled my body off the edge of the landing, held a knife to my throat and forced me to surrender the shorts forevermore.
At this point I should clarify that 10 years on Evelyn, Claire and I are adults and the best of friends. The best. Seriously. If I could live with my sisters in a ginormous house with an endless supply of Maltesers and dogs, that would be heaven. I might even suggest it when I finish writing this.
Top Comments
Couldn't agree more with your last statement, but isn't that what society is about these days? How many articles have been on this site about one person is celebrating a great milestone, but their friend/colleague, family member can't be happy for them because they're having issues in that area, or it hasn't happened to them, they're the odd one out, whatever the excuse is.
My sister didn't speak to me around both my children's pregnancies/births - even though she has her own family. Some people are just not happy when someone else is celebrating something.
Why can't we celebrate our loved one's celebrations selflessly without making it about what we ourselves "don't have"?