In the early 1980’s, my sister and I got into an argument during a family vacation. I didn’t like the way she treated me and told her to be more respectful. When I got home, she called me and said she didn’t want to have a relationship with me anymore. At this time, I had broken off communication with my alcoholic mother, as had my sister, because mom was actively drinking and dialing. Over the next 10 years, I reconnected with my mother as she stopped drinking but my sister did not.

Almost 25 years later, my sister called me but did not leave a message when the landline voicemail picked up. I checked the phone number and the area code was my sister’s. I thought about it for a couple of days and called the number, and it was my sister. I think it was a year later when we began visiting each other, and she is now the only family I have left.

The real kicker was when our mother was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, my sister was at her side when she died. I still marvel that although my sister still didn’t want anything to do with her, and my mother said she was dead to her, that they were there for each other in the end.