Sister Weekend

This past weekend I decided to go visit my sister for a couple days. I’d say we’re pretty close, but we don’t get to see each other very often as we live a few hours apart. I think the last time we got together was at Christmas! It was definitely time for a girls’ weekend.

When we were younger, we’d go through phases of fighting and cooperating. I’m older by a couple years but she always wanted to be in charge. Of course, I had an issue with that and conflict would ensue. I’m sure if you asked my parents, they’d say we fought more than we got along, but fortunately when you ‘grow up’ and aren’t living in such close quarters all the time, it is much easier to see eye to eye.

I arrived on Friday night after a long drive on snowy highways. In true hospitable fashion, my sister had a nice hot pot of tea ready for me (we can thank our mom for teaching us about how to be a good hostess). She made a nice strawberry spinach salad which was supplemented with some home-made chili I brought along and we caught up on the latest news.

Then we decided to go play racket ball. Now I must admit that I’ve never played racket ball before and, unlike my sister, I do not I have particularly strong abilities in sports-related activities. But, she was patient with me and we had lots of fun! I was horrible, of course, but that just added to the laughter. I left proudly with my first racket ball related blister and we lounged in the sauna.

The next day we got up and headed to the Art Gallery of Alberta. I had recently written a paper about the massive renovation the building underwent so was quite eager to see it myself. My sister is less interested in art than I am but she humored my conversations about the Japanese influences in Walter J. Phillips work and Emily Carr’s early experiments with European Modernism. A nice gentleman offered to take our photo but we both decided afterwards it was too unflattering for me to post, ha!

Our next pit stop was the City Centre Mall where we met up with a University friend of mine and perused the stores together. After coming up short, we decided to try another mall where I had my first Anthropologie experience.

After a few hours we decided it was best to head home. We had a late dinner, watched part of Jerry Maguire and then I read aloud an outrageous chapter in one of Chelsea Handler’s books. Too many giggles only sisters could share.

The next morning, we met up with some friends, including my old University room mate for brunch. We chatted for hours about old news, new news, and everything in between. It was a great way to wrap up a fun sister weekend. We said our goodbyes and I hit road for the drive home.

I’m really glad that I decided to go visit. Too often we get caught up in the business of our own lives and expect a phone call or email to suffice, but nothing quite compares to spending time together with your family. I’m so glad we get along enough now to genuinely enjoy each other’s company!