Sisterly Love

This morning while I was getting ready for work I heard Greenleigh and Hazeline laughing at each other.  One would laugh, then the other would laugh, and then they would both laugh together.  It went on for quite a while.  They weren’t doing anything special, they were just enjoying each other’s company.  I stood there and wondered what they were laughing about.  How is possible for them to not be able to speak a word to each other but get along so well?  They have such a strong bond, but truth be told, it has been this way since the very beginning.

The week after Hazeline was born, I was trying to get Greenleigh out the door to go to daycare.  Greenleigh is easy to get ready, but she can always think of one last thing she needs before we leave the house – creepy baby dolls, different shoes, snacks, water – so this can be a long process.  She wanted to say goodbye to Hazeline (who was staying home with my mother-in-law) before she left, and I agreed.  Greenleigh went over to her, kissed her goodbye, and somehow ended up with Hazeline’s socks in her hand.  Not realizing she had the socks in her hand I hurried her out the door and into the car.  Minutes later I realized my error and asked her to hand me the socks, but she refused.  When we got to daycare her class was out on the playground.  She had the socks in her hand, but I though to myself that newborn clothes only fit for a few minutes anyway so if they were lost it wasn’t that big of a deal.  I left her at school with the socks in her hand.

When I arrived to pick her up in the afternoon, she had the socks with her at the snack table.  I thought her teachers must have looked out for the socks that day.  The teachers then explained that she carried them with her the entire day and wouldn’t let anyone, even her best friend, touch them.  She had played, eaten, and napped clutching the socks.  I thought it was kinda sweet, picked her up, gave her a hug, and we headed home.

Once we arrived home she walked right through the door and immediately over to Hazeline.  My mother-in-law, who was sitting on the couch next to the baby in the Boppy, saw the socks in Greenleigh’s hand and asked for them.  Greenleigh hesitantly handed them to her and pointed to the baby.  My mother-in-law put them on the Boppy and Greenleigh turned around and walked away content.  She never touched the socks again.  The socks that I was so sure were a gonner when I left them with her on the playground, she protected all day just to bring back to her sister.  At that point she had only known Hazeline for 4 or 5 days, and yet she wanted to take care of the baby and protect her and her things.  They were already best friends.

Even now, just shy of 6 months later, Hazeline is still the first one Greenleigh asks for in the morning and the last one she wants to kiss before bed.  I feel so blessed that they love each other so much.

Now if we can only carry this love into the teen years, that would be wonderful.