Baby girl,

Mum and Dad came to visit for a few days recently. I finished work, dragged my butt into the shower and then made my way over to see them. Dad was asleep on the couch and mum looked beautiful. She had just had a haircut and she looked so much like you in the light she was sitting in. I didn't want to walk in. I kissed her and she smiled and hugged me. Then I went to dad and kissed him on his forehead. Sis, you know dad right? He was never somebody anybody could…

Mandy,

The strangest urge to want to hold your things close to me. To surround myself with all of your stuff. I'm sitting here at work and Thank God I'm alone otherwise people would think I'd lost it for sure. I was laughing to myself...not just normal laughing but the cracked up...tears start flowing kind of laughter. The kind you and I used to share. I was thinking about the way you'd be howling with laughter if you could see what I planned to do when I have a moment to…

My sister and I could talk a mile a minute or we could enjoy complete quiet by reading books together, all was done in companionship. Like the fit of an old bedroom slipper that you will never throw away because it just feels so you! When we didn't have anything to talk about we re-lived our teenage years and laughed until we cried. Our favorite past time was hiring a couple of comedies from the local video store, buying a whole bunch of junk food that we knew we were NOT going to just…

My older sister. A shaping tool, like the one wood carver's use to make sculptures. 

We never realize it but sometimes the people who get underneath our skin the most...like an annoying sibling who has absolutely no fear of telling us exactly what they think of us, are the best thing that could happen to us. It's only when they're not there anymore you realize that every time you scraped yourself against them in a debate or a squabble, they were shaping you in ways you didn't even…