Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The other Burns girl

Ah it's has been an eternity by internet standards since my last post.  For two weeks I was driving my sister to college.  Julie you ask?  No...the other Burns girl, Jennifer.  Not many people actually know I have two sisters.  The reason being she never wanted to be a part of my life, or of anyone's life for that matter.  It's easy to live in your own little world and judge people from your own pedestal.  But there's more to the story...

My sister Jen and I are just about 10 years apart, shy of two months.  So, right there that creates a generational gap.  I moved an hour away when she was ten.  Within a year, I was pregnant and married.  She did come to the wedding. She did see Julian once when he was an infant.  The next time she saw him, he was eager, friendly three year old.  I had dropped my mom off at home around the same time she got off the bus from school.  She got off the bus, looked at Julian, went around him, and went in the door.  Ok so you're a wanna-be-goth-chic, does that mean you have to be evil to children too?  That set the stage on how I would feel about her for the next seven years.  It's very complicated as to why she is this way, and why my parents condone it.  I don't understand it myself, since I missed the formation of her as an individual.

Flash forward to two weeks ago.  My mom asks me to take my sister to college.  She doesn't drive, and her friend's car broke down.  Oh, my mom doesn't drive either.  She never got used to not having public transportation when my family migrated from Philadelphia.  I think my mom and my sister think that driving is too big a responsibility on themselves.  I am much more of the independent set like my other sister, so I don't get it.  So I say as long as she gives me gas money, I am able to help her.  She is my sister after all.  Maybe having her confined to a car with me with force her to open her eyes and see I'm not a bad person (oh and my children aren't either).

My plan works!  After two days of this, her heart grew three times it's size.  She had to spend time at my house part of the week, and actually had a good time.  She loved my kids and said she would babysitter sometime.  I'm not going to rush on that offer but the sentiment was good.  She told my other sister, she thought all kids were brats before seeing mine.  The logic in that statement is nil, all the way around.  I think that's why she had no desire to know mine.  I'm just glad to have given her a glimpse into how wonderful children can be.  It's a shame that my son will be ten this year and she's missed out on so much due to her "prejudice."

For everything here I've just mentioned, you'd think we would have nothing in common.  She actually has the goal of majoring in French.  She loves discussing Victorian novels and their signifigance in society (or lack thereof).  Other times, she was far from my reaches of conversation with talk of anime, German techno, and Japanese glam rock.  I found her to be harsh and insecure at the same time.  I don't think we'll start talking on a regular basis.  It's just nice to be able to think of her now with pleasant thoughts in mind.

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