Day and Night
Is what my mom used to collectively refer to my sister and I, particularly when I was younger and a lot less open to people. It not only describes the utter polarity between the two of us, but fits our personalities to a T.
Beth precedes me, being the older of the two of us. She was bubbly, sociable, charming, and an avid fake-n-baker back then. On the social level she was the good child- never drank or did drugs, had a retinue of friends- not that she needed them since she always had a boyfriend in tow (they're quality was to be desired, however). From the age of fifteen she worked, shopped quite a bit- although she never took to having hobbies it seemed. The flute was more of a job to her by the time she hit high school, instead of the joy it was when she started at 11.
I followed Beth chronologically, but back then I was sullen and angry for very little reason. I kept to myself mainly, engrossing myself in art, sewing, reading- showing very little interest in making friends or finding boyfriends, at the very least the ones in my peer pool at school. My mom had to strongarm me into buying colored clothing when we went shopping, but nothing hardly ever removed the grim frown on my face. I was the academically inclined one, at least intellectually (Beth was the one who lacked the hubris to actually do her homework).
It seemed somewhere we swapped a bit. Beth moved to Peoria and lacking her friend base retreated a bit more into herself- she gardens now. When I see her visit I see less and less of the shallow thing I knew from the early aughts. Just as well- after freshman year of college (after I "got pretty", as it were) I started to come into my own... and look at me now.
There are traces of the old order though- she still tells me to 'lighten up'.
It seems almost apropos that my sister is being married in white while I look on in black.
(Yep, she's putting the bridesmaids in black. I got off EASY)
Beth precedes me, being the older of the two of us. She was bubbly, sociable, charming, and an avid fake-n-baker back then. On the social level she was the good child- never drank or did drugs, had a retinue of friends- not that she needed them since she always had a boyfriend in tow (they're quality was to be desired, however). From the age of fifteen she worked, shopped quite a bit- although she never took to having hobbies it seemed. The flute was more of a job to her by the time she hit high school, instead of the joy it was when she started at 11.
I followed Beth chronologically, but back then I was sullen and angry for very little reason. I kept to myself mainly, engrossing myself in art, sewing, reading- showing very little interest in making friends or finding boyfriends, at the very least the ones in my peer pool at school. My mom had to strongarm me into buying colored clothing when we went shopping, but nothing hardly ever removed the grim frown on my face. I was the academically inclined one, at least intellectually (Beth was the one who lacked the hubris to actually do her homework).
It seemed somewhere we swapped a bit. Beth moved to Peoria and lacking her friend base retreated a bit more into herself- she gardens now. When I see her visit I see less and less of the shallow thing I knew from the early aughts. Just as well- after freshman year of college (after I "got pretty", as it were) I started to come into my own... and look at me now.
There are traces of the old order though- she still tells me to 'lighten up'.
It seems almost apropos that my sister is being married in white while I look on in black.
(Yep, she's putting the bridesmaids in black. I got off EASY)