Blog 22 ( revised essay)

Her laugh resembles mine, the way she speaks is just like me, and we both have the same smile. We share the need to wear our hearts on our sleeves; we speak our minds almost too much, and have blond moments just as often. We are smart, we are daddy’s girls, and share a bond that is unbreakable.

Several pictures a year are taken of the two of us together and they change drastically every time. There were pictures of us when she was little and I was looking at her with disgust, because now she was the baby and I was jealous, and as the years went on they changed again as we got closer. A picture can say so much about a person but it cannot tell you of their past. The picture above is the two of us at my Aunt Beth and Brandy’s baby shower. We were sitting in wooden chairs at the end of the dance floor watching them open their gifts. She was sitting a couple of inches in front of me because she was taking pictures to make a scrap book for our aunts. I remember looking at her, studying the way she moved, laughing because she placed her feet on the ground just like I did, even though she didn’t have the injury that cause me to do it. She held the pencil the same way as me, and when she stood up she wiggled her hips, as I always do because my pants never stay on. She seemed to pick up on the little things that I do, and made them her own little quirks; I wonder if she even realizes where she got them from.


Sometimes I wonder how it is that we are so alike. You see, I do not live with her; she lives with my father and her mother. When I was younger, we spent every other weekend and the summers together until I was about 14. Being that she is five years younger than me, there was not much that happened to us at the same time. Meaning I liked boys when she still thought they had cooties, and as I went through my teenage years, she was playing with her dolls still. I also was a different person whenever I was at the house in Pennsylvania. I never showed my true colors this only happened when I was in Jersey. So how do two people who are not around each other all the time become two peas in a pod?


Could it be the one undeniable factor that we share that makes us so similar? Something inside of us is the identical, science can prove it to be true, we share DNA. May it only be partial, it is there. Nature and science tells us that with in both of our bodies we possess the DNA of Stephen Quinn. It is the determining factor that seals the bond that we have; the law tells me that it is so. Yet “Blood”, whether it is half, full or none is not what makes us what we are. It is experiences, talks, hugs, fights, Christmas mornings, secrets, make-up, late night movie nights, and talks on the phone that last for hours.


Watching her at the party, realizing all the things that made us so similar, I decided I wanted to take a picture to document this time in our lives. I reached into my mess of a purse and looked around for my pink camera, which had silver marks all over it because of the chipped paint. I pulled it out, turned it on, and tapped my sister on the shoulder. When she turned around and saw the camera I did not even have to ask. She scooted her chair towards me and leaned up against my shoulder, this was our usual pose. Next she asked what she always does, “Funny or smiling?”; just another part of our routine. I replied with "smile nice." In a matter of 15 seconds there we were on the screen; two young women smiling just like each other, making a memory of that day.


This bond that we have is due partially because of what is written in the laws of science, but the largest contributing factor is choice. I do not live with her, have never gone to the same school, never had the same friends, and have not always followed the same rules. I could very easily just give her a hug and a kiss at holiday parties just to say hello, and have the occasional conversations when advice is needed; but we both made the choice to not go down that road. We chose to love each other unconditionally, to talk all the time, share our thoughts, hopes, fears, moments of excitement. She whether she realizes it or not made a choice somewhere along the road that she wanted to be like me in way; some of these choices she realized and some she did not. I chose to be there for her, and to try and be a good example. We are as close as we are because we want to be, not because we share some measly DNA. There are many people out there who do not feel the need to make this sincere connection in our situations, but we did.


I look back at this picture today as I am writing and I am proud; proud that we made the choices that we did and that she so much like me. I think about how much she has become her own person since this picture was taken is amazing; how strong she has become and how her talents have flourished. While there are many resemblances and shared characteristics between the two of us, she is one in a million and adds her own little tweaks to what we share. A picture can sometimes be deceiving, leading you to believe there is love when there is not; this will never be the case with us. Our smiles will always be genuine and our love will always be true. As we age and life changes our picture are bound to change, but one thing will always remain the same between her and I, we are Sisters by blood, and Best Friends by choice.


( there is a really good picture that goes with this esasy but stupid Kean computers will not let me post it, booooooo! )