The past couple of days I have been with my sister. She is not a blood relative and I do have two brothers but I also have a sister without any genetic material shared between us. We have been friends for 30 years and over the past couple of days we wandered around, ate, laughed, watched TV, shopped and did all the things that siblings who enjoy each other might do while still working and carrying on with our daily routines and responsibilities. One of the things I most enjoy about this relationship is that it is consistent and yet evolving. It is complex and yet it is simple. It is perfect.
As we were walking along the street one night there was a large sporting event and many people were excited and out shouting their glee to the world (in my mind putting it into a song and dance routine would be preferable but it was not this particular groups choice…wink). The noise was astonishing and yet we made the decision to walk amongst the revellers and take it in for a bit. It was very loud and after a few minutes we veered off the path and over two streets and there it seemed quiet. I realized that the quiet was not from the street itself but in fact was because of my relationship with my semi-sibling. It was quiet because I had excluded the sounds of the major thoroughfare as I enjoyed a peaceful moment and created a new memory.
It happened that as we walked we found ourselves in front of the building where we first met. And as it happened there was reason to sit down in front of the building only feet from where many years before we would run out of the building to have a smoke and talk about some particularly irritating situation at the office before returning to our beige cubicles. Here we were, middle-aged, content with the directions our lives have taken yet still striving to learn, love, laugh and listen more to the world around us. We had been in front of this building thousands of time before. In fact I recall that we had even sat in the very same place many years before as the leadership team of 500 striking civil servants and I think to myself, how interesting, rich and rewarding life can be.
So today, as I go about my life I recognize that I am a artful creation, not yet finished, always evolving and I give thanks that I have the freedom to choose the next exciting development as I continue to create a life I love to live.
