The Luck That Is Mine

While the motorcycle remains the transportation mode of choice it is sometimes fun to see how others get around and to maybe even join them…as they get around.  I received a text message last week from my sister Laura saying that if I wasn’t doing anything I could join her for a trip up to the cottage.  It was just her and Sydney her Australian Sheppard.  While I really enjoy the company of her husband and kids this was a rare opportunity I couldn’t pass up.   While amongst the siblings in my family we are furthest apart we are actually closest and it’s a blessing.  The chance to just spend some time talking and laughing was good for my soul.  A reconnection with my past and seemingly fading family ties.  The radio was never turned on once in the entire trip…nearly three hours of good talk.

From time to time I quietly take this all in and ponder what it might have been like had Laura not survived a very bad car wreck more years back than either of us would confess to.  Suffice to say there was a 73 Comet or Maverick involved I think.  The outcome from that could have placed me in a very different world today.  Without Laura there are no nephews in Graeme or Matthew.  No brother in law in Allyn, no Sydney and by and large no family connections for me.  Ours is a sadly fragmented one that for reasons I don’t understand continues to flounder and fade as the years so quickly pass.  Knowingly or not Laura has stepped right into the role our Mom left behind a little over five years ago.  Laura is the one who engages the family or at least tries.  She stays in close contact with our Father and is always there whenever you need her.  Laura is much like our Mom especially when it comes to holidays and big meals.  She’s all in…100%.  Every detail.  Just like our Mom.  It’s never lost on me how lucky I am and how lucky we all are she survived that car wreck.  I can still she her being wheeled up to the family car so long ago in a neck brace.  She still looked cool to me.

While motoring up highway 21 somewhere I looked over at her at one point and saw our Mom clearly.  To Laura that’s a high compliment.  To me it’s a bit of comfort.  While it was only a one-night trip it was packed with good things.  Some time to reconnect and realize the luck that is mine in a sister like her.