Happy Birthday Sister!

January 26, 2022

Yesterday, my sister turned twenty-five. Together with my family, we celebrate her existence and we praise God for the wonderful blessings that He bestowed upon her.

Growing up with an older sister with only one year of age-gap is never boring but in fact a fun experience. We were like cat and dog. Tom and Jerry. Always chasing each other. Always pulling each other's hair. Always me coming for my mom's rescue and it was always her that would be scolded. One of the many perks of being younger is that I get all the sympathy from my mom. It is the reason why she would sing, "Paboritong itlog, paboritong noodles". A line from payless instant noodles commercial. The next day when my mother is on her side, I will be the one to sing that song. We like to think that our mom is playing favorites.

We would take turns washing the dishes every night. I would do it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and she would do Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. My mother would do Sunday. There were times that I would fake busy doing a school project so I would be spared from washing the dishes so my mother would ask her to do my task but my sister knew my strategy and she hated me for that. She would scold me and tell my mom about my strategy.

My feet will itch too when I can't stroll around the neighborhood back then. I would come home with my father greeting me with a belt. At my father's back is my sister doing this facial expression. Isn't it annoying?
There are many things that we shared. From one hard- boiled egg to clothes. I would not always get new set of clothes because of my sister. My mother would just let me wear the clothes that won't fit my sister. Same is true as to the case of the shoes. I never complained about that before because I like her clothes and shoes. She was the one who keeps on complaining. She doesn't like me to wear the clothes that are small for her and would not fit to her anymore.

When in college, she wouldn't want me to board on the same boarding house as hers. In fact, she didn't want me to enroll in the same course and school as hers. But she didn't have a choice. My mother would not want me to stop studying and wait for my sister to finish until I enroll on the course that I want to take. My mom thinks that I would just be wasting years. What my sister did was that she finds me a separate boarding house because she doesn't want her classmates to see me but surprise, her classmates really says that we look alike.

She says that she envies one of my skill but she never knew how much I prayed that God will gift me with hands so skillful to play the piano. I really envied her from the porch I sit, I would stare at her playing the piano at church. I wished I could have the same skill because when she started to work away, the piano slept and never woke up anymore.
Time has profound ways of maturing relationships that now that we are on our early twenties, we really get along especially for our family's future plans. It all started when she gave me money even when she knew that I got a job. lol. Kidding. When you are far away from your family, you tend to be sweeter and you tend to make things up by the love language of giving. That is the case of my sister.

I'm grateful that while she was away working she learned the value of money and she learned to keep some and to put them in what they are intended for. She is not the kind of sister who thinks about herself only. She is not high- maintenance. She only spends extravagantly when it comes to family affairs and projects and for foods.

On her twenty-fifth birthday, I pray that she gets all the things that she deserves and receives the blessings that is due to her. I remember that during the new year's eve, she wrote that this will be her year and that she will be hired in DepEd. I really pray that she gets that blessing. It will be the fifth time this year that she will undergo ranking and the fifth time that she will be among the list of the Registry of Qualified Applicants. I hope this year will be the last. I hope that God will finally grant our prayers so she can now come home for good. Work nearby and spend more time with her daughter.

Thank you for reading. Until then!