Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Reflections from a [Sister's] Heart

"Reflections from a Mother's Heart" is actually the title of a journal I received a few years ago. (I tweaked it a bit for the purpose of this particular post, as you will read below.) The subtitle is "A Family Legacy for Your Children/Your Life Story in Your Own Words." I love the idea of this book, even if I am not as faithful as I could be in fulfilling its purpose ... which is, to read the single question at the top of each page and then fill the remaining space on the page with your personal response.

Having said that, today I took the time to answer two questions in this journal. The first, I will leave for another blog post on another day - but suffice it to say that it was a question regarding my grandparents' house and the memories I have of it. I have many memories, all of them sweet, and one journal page was simply not enough space to record them!

The second question was this: List one special memory about each of your brothers and sisters. Well, I only have two sisters. (So this exercise didn't take me as long as it will take my own children one day!) And I have many special memories of both of them. But for some reason, two specific memories stood out in my mind on this particular morning, both of them taking place during my college years. (As a little background, college was not my favorite time in life! I enjoyed the classes and learning, but for the most part I felt like a duck out of water having lived practically my entire life outside of the United States and also missing my parents and Chile like crazy.)

Anyway, here is what I wrote ... please bear in mind that this was spur-of-the-moment writing, so forgive any grammatical oddities!

Jennifer: My freshman year of college, I was so sad about being far from Chile and my parents and a break up with my boyfriend of two years. My sister Jenn decided to do something special for me on my birthday. For one, she got me a cute card and gift (stuffed animal, I think.) Then, she planned dinner at an expensive Italian restaurant just for the two of us (she had a coupon but still!! on a college budget, that was a sacrifice.) And finally, she planned a birthday party for me, off-campus at the mission prof's house. I've never forgotten how loved that made me feel!

Terri: The summer after my sophomore year, I was really struggling. Terri was a newlywed (less than a year) but when I called to say I needed to get away for a weekend, she drove 2 1/2 hours to get me, no questions asked. In their first little apartment, she and Dave didn't have much room, but they made me feel welcome, special and loved at a time when I really needed it.

I am thankful for my sisters and the friendship we share!

1 comment:

Lomdím said...

I had forgotten about that. I'm glad it was special; I know there were people who did things like that for me during college and probably that's why I knew how you felt.
Love ya!
Jenn