Throw back Friday

Apparently yesterday was national Siblings Day. I don't know what this means exactly, maybe Hallmark invented it to try and persuade people to do more card-buying. But I like to think it has been a day of the year assigned to encourage people to think about their siblings and what they mean to them. When you have grown up with someone and know every little last thing about them it can be  easy to take the sibling relationship for granted. But for a lot of people, siblings are the one person we can truly be ourselves with. You have the same memories, the same experiences growing up, the same heritage. I have blogged before about the lovely relationship Elin has with Caitlin, one which we are lucky to witness growing and blossoming every day. But I'm not sure I have ever mentioned in detail my sibling. My sister, Karen. We are twins and could not be more different in a lot of ways. Probably the reason we get on so well. We have never had to compete with one another. My sister is all Sport and Science and I am all Drama and Performance. Ask my Mum and she will tell you it has always been this way. I am actually quite fascinated by this- how can two people given exactly the same lifestyle from birth be so very different from the beginning? My sister is a Peadiatric Dietitian at Alder Hey Children's Hospital (I am very proud of her for this, she worked her socks off to be there) She would rather gouge her eyes out than go on stage, take part in a play or speak aloud in front of a large group in general. I would rather gouge my eyes out than go for a run, bike ride or swim -despite what it says under 'hobbies' on my C.V :-) Karen regularly wins 10k races and Triathlons in her spare time. I can't even win a raffle. However despite all this and the odd door-slamming 'you took my top' type argument when we were teenagers (poor parents) we have barely ever had a crossed word. Thus, my sister is my best friend. When I think about it, she really is. I would feel utterly lost without her. There is one thing we do have in common, of course. Elin. Karen is the best Aunty Elin could wish for and for the past 5 years she has religiously come every single weekend to visit her, so that Elin knows her voice and who she is. She never feels sad for Elin and is often the person who marvels most at her small achievements. She doesn't want to change her and she doesn't make excuses for her. She credits Elin with being one of the main reasons she branched into Paediatrics after qualifying as a Dietitian and first working with adults. She now treats a lot of children just like Elin, who are peg fed etc. I am proud of this too, I feel like Elin had a small hand in shaping her future. Fate can be funny sometimes. Anyway back to throw-back Friday. It's a picture I found recently which I absolutely love. We are three years old and it is our first day of school. Karen is the dark haired one on the left (you can see traces of Elin there!) and I am the cheeky looking blond one on the right. We were even exact opposites in the way we looked! Despite being two completely different halves, (well technically two completely different wholes as we are non identical) I know wherever we are and whatever we're doing I wouldn't feel complete without her. Happy National Siblings day, everyone!