sisters

hey!

I have always wanted a sister. When I was little, I really, REALLY wanted a sister. My parents, particularly my dad, really wanted a daughter. Unfortunately, along came my brother (but we still love him...most of the time). I don't know how true the following story is but rumor has that on the day my brother was born, I was so upset that I didn't get a sister that I started to cry. Anyways, fast forward to today where I have been blessed with not one but seven "sisters". They may not be biologically-related to me but I still call them "sisters" nonetheless. Over the years, based on my friendships with the children of certain very close family friends, I have taken the liberty of "adopting" some of them into my extended family. I would just use the word "friend" but that word lacks certain sentiments and connotations that you can only capture with the word "sister". I treat them as my sisters, the same way I treat my actual brother as my brother, therefore they become my sisters. Or maybe it's just my unconscious (and conscious) desire for a sister that drives me to refer to them as such.

In addition to my sisters, I've also adopted their parents into my extended family here in the US. Their moms are like my second "mom". Perhaps it's just the Indian in me but I have a need to have a large "family". In India, your family is more than just your parents and your siblings; your family consists of parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, nieces/nephews, etc. Since most of my family, save for a few cousins, are in India, it's nice to have more "family" around. I guess it'll be interesting to see how Togolese people define "family" when I get over there...

So yea, today I have seven "sisters": Shilpa, Sneha, Jo, Sonia, Pavi, Minutha, & Saneeha (Arpan & Amar, I haven't forgotten you, my other "brothers") and I will refer to them from here on out as my sisters just as a point of clarification.

I brought this topic up because over the past week I have spent a lot of time with my sisters. Shilpa came down for my grad party a few weeks ago and I'm SO glad I got to see her. I'll be seeing Pavi (*crossing my fingers*) when I get to Philly since they live in New Jersey and said they would drive down to see me before I leave. Unfortunately I won't be able to see Sneha before I go as she's finishing her final exams to FINALLY become a doctor in the UK. But I did get to spend a lot of time with my other sisters. Sonia graduated from Northview High School this past weekend and b/c of that, Jo came into town. So Sonia, Jo, Minutha, Saneeha and I saw a lot of each other at my parent's house and at Sonia's graduation. Then today I spent the afternoon w/ Sonia (and Minutha) and got to say bye to her before she leaves for Harvard (!!!) in the fall. I also swung by Sonu's house to say bye to Poornima Aunty (one of my second moms) and Prithipal Uncle. Then I headed off to dinner with Minutha and Kavitha Aunty (another one of my second moms). Saying bye to my sisters really brought the reality of my impending departure to my attention. I am so proud of them and I'm going to miss them (and their families) terribly! But I guess that's the great thing about families, it doesn't matter how long it's been since you last saw them, they're your family and you can always start again where you left off...