Sibling Distance Draft

I’m picking at the scab on my face in the reflection of the phone as it rings. “C’mon, c’mon. Pick up.” The phone stops ringing and at the top it says: “Sister Dear Facetime unavaliable” and with a sigh I tap the cancel button. Then within the next minute the ringing is back and it’s my Sister Dear, Tiffany, FaceTiming me back.

I tap the answer button, she is wearing a towel and in the process of drying off her hair. It’s 11pm at night. She likes to shower late, just like when all of our conversations happen. Late.

Yet, once the other answers it’s like we aren’t even apart. It immediately goes into a conversation regarding about her day and days past because some days, there isn’t much to talk about or there just isn’t time for us to talk.

The thing is with FaceTime conversations they can last a while, compared to a quick phone conversation. Brayton Hagge, in her last year of college at Morningside has a younger sister, Keely, who just started college at Doane. It was between Brayton’s classes when she got a call from her sister needing to talk to her as soon as she can.

Long-distance sibling relationship aren’t your typical relationship because relationships fade over time, sibling ties are forever. When you stop talking to or seeing a friend so often, sometimes the relationship is still the same when you meet up again but other times, the connection just is no longer there. You don’t really have that problem with siblings. Which is a broad thing to say because not all siblings get along, it’s just the family connection. You don’t have to talk or interact often because no matter what family ties last.

“What is it like being away from your sibling?” I asked my sister over FaceTime.

“Well, it’s hard. Really hard because sometimes you just want to talk to someone who understands everything about you, but you can’t because schedules are different, when one person is free the other isn’t, or sleeping. . . it’s just hard.”

Brayton agrees when I say when I talk to my sister it’s never chit-chat it’s always, “I had a really bad day can you listen to me?” or “OMG this just happened!” or “OMG I can’t believe this just happened to me.” or even “Hey, I just wanted to hear your voice.” because those are the only times Brayton hears from Keely, as with me and Tiffany. It’s the dramatic moments or the big moments in life that make long distance sibling relationships hard because you’re only in contact with those moments.

Brayton says it was hard studying abroad in northern Ireland last year because she had to miss her sister’s high school graduation

Distance; part of growing up–> different from other times

distance impact the relationship

way this pain/hurt can be avoided

conclusion: it doesn’t get easier but you can take steps and find ways to keep in touch.

Phone conversation. Texting is hard because so busy and things can distract you when texting, but on the phone it is in the moment and present for the personand self.

Questions for Reader:

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Confusion?

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