SISTER
NOT
By: Valerie Madrigal
August 2001
Nope, she was not
my biological sister.
Although we looked so alike, that we were often
mistaken as twins. Friends and relatives would sometimes kid us that
we were twin sisters, and that her parents just gave me away to MY
parents, because they had no baby girl.
Living with three older brothers, I was exposed
to more of GI-Joes, Transformers and toy guns over Barbie dolls and
tea sets. She was the one who reminded me that I was a girl, and that
I had every right to those playthings. Living two houses apart, we
used to stay all day in their house, because having no siblings, I
was her only playmate. Besides, playing at my house was never thought
of, because my brothers dominated the entire house, meaning "girlie
toys" had no place at home.
Our parents were so supportive of our friendship,
not just because they were High School friends, but also because they
thought we needed each other, Vanessa being an only child, and I being
the only girl.
As the years passed, we developed the same
taste in clothes, the same liking for guys, the same everything, except
for our personality, as I became more outspoken, and she grew to be
more demure.
Soon enough, she got herself a boyfriend, who
turned out to be the devil in the flesh. I was there, of course, when
she cried her eyes out all night because of that jerk who broke her
heart. And she was there too, when I punched the devil incarnate in
the nose... and when I too, was smitten by an angel impostor.
Friends of all kinds came into our lives as we
grew older: true friends, not-so true friends, gimmick companions,
and hi-hello friends. We slowly widened our worlds to other people,
making a larger network of true friends, not-so true friends, gimmick
companions and hi-hello friends. But amidst all these "friends" was
Vanessa, who, despite all the bad things I did, forgave me for all
my misgivings, accepted me for who I was and with all my flaws, the
person who knew and loved me to the bone.
I do not know how my life would
have turned out to be, if it was not for her. The fiancé she left
turned out to be the husband I was destined to meet. I talk of her
in the past tense, because two years ago, the Lord decided to take
away all her pain and give her rest. She fought with cancer for only
three years, after our college graduation, and lost.
It was fun while
it lasted, having not just a best friend, but a non-biological sister.
She was the sister never given to me, the sister I needed, the sister
who was more than other biological sisters can actually be.
And even if we did not come from the same womb,
I can absolutely say, we were true-blue sisters at heart.
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