Day 56

A picture of something that makes me happy:

Back in Indy, May 2010.

There is a more sedate version of this picture, but this one has more of her essence.

Behold the baby sister.

I was a bad big brother, growing up.  Granted, she was a bad little sister, but that's not my responsibility.  I didn't treat her well, and few were the occasions on which I felt the need to defend her to outsiders.  I ignored her whenever possible...but then that's part of the "older sibling" job description during a certain phase of development.

When she came out to me, I was drunk.  I'd already known, but still: here's yet another important moment in the life of a loved one for which I was only partially present. 

One of the more glaring signals of my alcoholism, among the first red flags that planted itself beneath my denial, occurred during one of our famous fights.  She and I both have raging tempers, when set loose, and nobody knows how to unlock your temper like your family.  The fight wasn't important, though.  The key moment was when she looked at me, full of scorn, and said "Whatever David, just have another drink."

Yeah, that tastefully cinematic moment was brought to you by sibling revulsion and the letter C.

So I've been trying to make it up to her.  And the thought that makes me happy is that I've been succeeding - I'm an actual big brother, now, and maybe a pretty good one.  At least, I'm present and empathetic and supportive and proud. We still argue, but then we're still family, so that's gonna happen.  It's pretty rare that we fight.  Mostly, we just laugh, trade updates and share our particularly sardonic perspectives on family current events.