Comments on: All Grown Up

By: Johnna

Johnna — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:15:32 +0000

yeah, that road trip book is Are We There Yet by Susan Rugh of the BYU history department. I've got four younger sisters. Since I was living in the Midwest and everyone else pretty much stayed on the coast, I pretty much missed their young-married transition. Now when I get to visit any of them, I am always blown away by how together and cool they are.

By: Michelle Glauser

Michelle Glauser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:54:17 +0000

Did you hear about that new book a BYU professor wrote about road trips?

By: lyn

lyn — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:48:22 +0000

That reminds me so much of my sister (4 years younger). Growing up I didn’t really appreciate her – especially since she wanted to be just like me. My mom told me so many times “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” I thought we were SOOOO different. She’s brunette, I’m blonde; she’s an English teacher, I’m an engineer; I could go on and on – but she is most definitely my mother’s daughter just as I am my father’s daughter.

I went out to help her when her twin boys were born four years ago. I was absolutely shocked at how similar we were. We talked the same. We used the same mannerisms. We had the same finicky way of keeping our house completely spotless (even with two week-old twin boys). We think the same – and have incredibly similar opinions about people, events, etc. We are so alike in so many ways it was scary – and yet it pleased me so much. It was like discovering a best friend I didn’t stop to realize I had.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:44:05 +0000

This was beautiful, Shelah.

We just returned from a big family vacation with my whole extended family, and your thoughts on your sister warm my heart. My younger sister and I are five years apart. Though we clashed a lot as kids, we have become very close. We look a lot alike, though I’m taller, she’s got a bigger frame and more freckles, and our hair color is different. She’s much more hippy than I am, though I’ve got a little inner hippy that adores her hippy side. I love how close we’ve become. We cried when we parted.

What you said about always thinking of your sister as a kid reminded me of us, too. It’s kind of strange when that hits me. She married several years before me (which honestly reflected she was more mature than me), and she really is a more thoughtful, kind, selfless person than I am. She even prayed, years ago, that I would get married and have children first, because she knew how much I longed for both. Anyway, back to the see-her-as-a-kid idea . . . even with all of her greater maturity, sometimes when she says something deep or wise or profound, it catches me off guard. I literally find myself thinking things like, “Wow. She really is a brilliant, grown up woman. Not just the kid I tormented into cleaning her part of our room.” Because I respect and admire her so very much, it surprises me when I think thoughts like that. Isn’t it odd? I suspect a lot of us older sisters do that.

I love that you and your sister decorate the same & such. We are much more drastically different that way, but I dig her style.

This was so great to read and think about!