My Sister's Keeper

I went to see the movie

 version of Jodi Picoult's book My Sister's Keeper. I'm pretty sure everyone in the crammed theater cried at some point. 

Although I was initially emotionally stirred, it wasn't until Anna and Kate began calling each other "Sissy," that I cried. I cried because that hit home. My sister, who I envy in so many ways, and used to resent for so many reasons, was also the younger sister who I called "sissy" all through my childhood. She's the one I comforted at daycare when she fell and broke her arm. She's the one that learned to rollerblade first and taught me. She's the one who saw me off to prom on multiple occasions, only to find that I was away at college when it was her turn. She's vouched for me, encouraged me, stood up for me, and loved me in a way no one else on earth could. We've snuggled, and cried, and played, and yelled, and argued, and traveled, and danced, and dreamed. She's the one that I used to design "dream homes" with, dream homes that were big enough for our families (her with her "future husband" and "future only child" and me with my "future husband" and future "eight children.") She's the one who listened when I vented. She's the one who picked out pets' names with me, who held my hand on roller coasters, who sleeps in my room because there was a spider in hers sometime in the distant past. She's creative and talented and amazing in so many ways. Sure, my sister and I have our moments where we think we're polar opposites, but the truth is, I would do anything, anything at all, for her. 

It's a heartwrenching movie about death, life, love and the bonds that hold us together. But I can relate on so many levels to Kate and Anna, from understanding the dynamics of sisterhood within the family unit, to wanting to give my sister everything so she could have the best possible life; to understanding that doing so to my detriment did neither of us any good; to wanting to give her the world; to knowing that I couldn't; to knowing that wherever we went in life, whatever came between us, we have always been and will always be remarkably close. And nothing could make me stop loving her, ever. 

Go see the movie. Really. But bring tissues.