Vacation Post: sine qua non

Spent the day with my sister, the wisest person I know.

I love many people in my life: my partner, my friends, my family, my students, my church family, and others. I can list people so dear to me that I'd have trouble moving from my bed if they weren't in my world.

But my sister occupies the sine qua non role, the indispensable, without which not (technically, she should be the sine quibus non, without whom not) element of my life. Hers is the good regard and support I must have above all others. Come the apocalypse, she's the one I'd trek through the zombie-infested wasteland to find.

It's odd. I live far from my sister. Our daily contact usually consists of quick Snaps and occasional texts. We talk by phone less frequently than I'd prefer. I find I always have to do lots of catching up with her--and vice versa--when we're together. I visit her maybe once every four months when I'm very lucky. An outside observer might think we're not that close.

But in my head and heart and spirit, my sister attends every instant in my daily life. I think of jokes only she and I would find funny--and I giggle. I remember some brilliant insight she gave me--and I share it. I recall her sharp ethical sense and astonishing wellspring of empathy--and, well, I try to pattern my interactions after the model she lives out.

She's human relationship I've had the longest, next to my father. I've known her her entire life. She's the relationship I most often visualize when I imagine my twilight years. She and her best friend joke about retiring to a "crone home" where they'd support each other. I'm inviting myself along.

I do not want to outlive her.

We're not twins, though we're often mistaken for such. I feel like she's my twin. My soul feels tied to hers. I am at peace knowing she's with me, near or far.

It's not a contest, but she is my favorite person.

More tomorrow,

JF