My little sister opened the gift I had carefully wrapped just for her and quietly glared at me.
“Go on!” I smiled back. This was great, “Show everyone what I made for you!”
She flipped the mirror around and everyone oohed and ahhed. “Kathy, did you MAKE that!?!”
“Yes. Why yes I did.” I replied smugly.
I made it in shop class, just. for. my little sister. It was a mirror with a beautiful rose etched into the glass and a frame made of wood that I cut and sanded myself in shop class.
Who knew I had such a knack for carpentry?
My sister, on the other hand, failed to take in the beauty of my hard work, because she saw what I wanted her to see…her initials etched into the mirror just beneath the thorny stem of the rose.
ALBM.
Most people have three initials. A letter for the first, middle, and last name. But my sister had chosen to hyphenate her last name with our step-dad’s last name when she was in fourth grade. Approximately six months later she changed her mind.
But I was not going to allow her to flip flop. No no no…when you remove your hand from your game piece your play is complete. You may not take your hand away, see your mistake, and then move back.
NO. FLIP. FLOPPING.
By carefully etching the first letter of her new last name into glass, I was basically flipping her the proverbial bird. You switched your name, you made your choice, and oh yeah…you’re no longer my sister.
I all but dared her to call me out after opening the gift. Our entire family was together, it was Christmas morning for crying out loud…would she actually take a stand and cause a scene over her new last initial and risk hurting our step-dad’s feelings? Isn’t that what I was daring her to do? Wasn’t that the awkward moment I was SO looking forward to creating as I spent hours at school etching the rose and each of it’s letters?
Was this not great fun!?!
Unfortunately, my sister did not see the humor in my denouncing her from her biological family. But ultimately, she wins. Because all these years later she’s still a member of the family (as hard as I tried) and she gets the added bonus of looking like a sweetheart for so openly accepting our step-dad’s last name in an attempt to make him feel loved and welcome.
I, on the other hand, was a mean mean girl. I intentionally put her on the spot with high hopes of embarrassing her in front of our step dad and with no consideration for my step dads feelings (whether he even picked up on any of it I sincerely doubt. I’m pretty sure he thought the mirror was brilliant.)
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that my sister was ever as offended by that mirror as she let on at the time, because you know what?
Nearly twenty years later, she’s still using it.
*All be damned if I didn’t make out with a pair of great looking blades! Don’t be jealous.*
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Now it’s your turn!
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1.) A Christmas gift that was not well received.
2.) Describe yourself in five words. Choose one, and write a poem.
3.) It happened at daycare.
4.) Let’s rewind to Summer and warm up! Share some favorite photos from a vacation you took.
5.) A fist fight.
