Siblings

They look innocent enough don't they? One is 16 and one is 3 but when they are bickering it seems as if I am dealing with two 3 year olds! The other day we were riding home...from church I think...and I heard the fighting begin. They were arguing, over of all things, elbow placement between their two seats. G of course is in her car seat which has arm rests on it and C, my 16 year old, was sitting beside her. C made the mistake of resting her arm on G's armrest...which she wasn't using...and the fight was on. I glance in the mirror to see them elbowing each other back and forth so I say, "both of you knock it off NOW". Silence fills the van but as I glance in my mirror again I see G elbowing C again...in silence this time to avoid my attention. I tell her again to stop and she replies, "but C is poking me". Ugh!!!

I used to worry about G being so young and not having a sibling young enough to relate to but the more I think about it the less I worry. Our kids have adjusted so easily to our family. I know within the next 4 years my two oldest may be moving out and going away to college and sometimes I worry about how G will cope. She will be 7 then and I worry it may be too traumatic to suddenly become an only child. Then I remember that I was only 13 when my older sister moved out and I wasn't traumatized at all....instead I took her room over and I adjusted just fine.

I love to watch or listen to them interact. The three of them have their own special way of communicating with each other and there are times that the love between the 3 of them is just so explicitly evident that it's all I can do to hold back the tears. I pray that love will last them a lifetime and keep them close even after I am gone.


"J ,my then 12 year old, reading to G"


All three in the sun reading and playing with bubbles...