A Powerful Bond

When you look at America’s version of a family, you get a two car garage, the white picket fence, and the four person family that goes to church on Sunday. That isn’t always the case. With divorce rates on the rise families are becoming fragmented. Yet sometimes strong sibling bonds can bring people together closer than ever. However, sibling rivalries can also force someone over the edge or push someone into the deep, treacherous tides of depression. They can break the very foundation on which your family’s ties have been built upon. On the corner of my father’s desk sits a photograph of two rambunctious pre-teens, a memory of my sister and me giggling together for what was the last time in years. We were young (she was thirteen, myself eleven) and best friends forever, so we thought at the time. The last thing I ever expected was to be hurt by my closest friend, and sister. But alas, I have learned that all wounds heal over time.

One morning not too long after that legendary picture was taken, my body jolted itself awake in a way that scared the light of day out of me. My body ached from head to toe, signaling that I had slept entirely too long. School had started nearly three hours ago! My mother had never been the one to tolerate any of us kids oversleeping, so I knew that something was dreadfully wrong. Tip-toing to the hall, my ears picked up sounds reverberating throughout the house, many voices that I couldn’t differentiate, but knew they belonged to no one I’d ever encountered. At that moment, the comprehension had set in that my sister was gone.

The voices belonged to police officers, speaking to my mother about my older sister. She had gone missing in the middle of the night; my mom’s car had also somehow evapora...

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...sy, my averseness to forgive her, and her out of control behavior caused my family to fail on an epic scale. Once we were able to put aside our differences, things were made much easier. But to this day, I don’t think full forgiveness has been given to her from any of us. However, she is slowly working her way up the ladder to being a functioning person. We hold our breath and wait, until she spirals downwards again. I learned that sibling rivalry can be an incredibly powerful thing. But now our family isn’t dysfunctional because of it. We simply work together to create the support that my sister needs to function. After a complete mental breakdown, my parents finally recognized that not only had they neglected me but my younger sister as well. Slowly they’ve begun to make up for the pain that we went through as well and I have learned that time heals all wounds.