Friday, November 13, 2009

My Sister


You all may have noticed that I have not blogged a lot of late. I have been a wee bit busy with life and with death. My life is always quite busy with family and friends, but recently I have also been very busy with the death of my sister. As a shaman work sometimes just gets going when a person crosses over.

There are a couple of things that I would like to share about her. First off, as you can see, we have sported, for different reasons, the same hair style. Mine was more by choice. Hers, not so much. Secondly, it is pretty obvious by looks that we are so genetically linked that we could not possibly disown each other and hope that no one would know we were related.

Leith had a very tough exterior, but inside she was a marshmallow. I had a way of making her share her marshmallows with me. She spent her life striving for excellence and perfection, which on a professional level she achieved. Let's face it, on a personal level no one is perfect. I think that her drive to achieve came from a little girl within who always wanted to please her dad.

When I was about 2 or 3 years of age, my family took a trip to Ottawa to visit my older sister. During that visit my older sister made bread. When it was in the final stage of rising, I came into the kitchen and saw it sitting there, just waiting to be poked and pinched. No one saw me do it. But when it was discovered, my older sister went crazy (also a perfectionist). I chose to implement the old "Keep your mouth shut until it all blows over" trick that I had learned about a year earlier. Leith, however, upon seeing the bread, burst out laughing! She took the heat for the offense. She swore her innocence, but no one believed her. I figured that my older sister's cat, Sir Henry, had already attacked me, so I would let this one belong to someone else. I was sure that it would blow over. It became, however, the topic of conversation during family gatherings. Every time it came up, Leith professed her innocence. For 20 years this went on! I could not believe that my family could hold onto something like that! I have seen pit bulls let go faster! So finally, I couldn't take the guilt any longer and I confessed. You should have seen the stunned looks on the faces of my family! They were shocked that it was me (being a model child and all!). Finally the truth came out and they let it go. Leith, however, had mixed feelings. She was relieved that the truth was revealed. She was also angry that I had let it go on for so long. But most of all, she was impressed that I could keep a secret for so long!

Leith was also the one in the family who invented "Happy Nothing's Day". This was a result of her not wanting to feel pressure to purchase a gift for anyone just because of some arbitrary date, such as Christmas or a birthday. But throughout the year, she would certainly make up for it. You would suddenly hear her say, "Happy Nothing's Day!" and she would present you with some gift that she picked up just for you because it made her think of you when she saw it. This is a tradition I continue with my own children, although they really cash in because I also gift them on birthdays and Christmas.

Yes, we also had our differences. But the good stuff will certainly be missed. I hope she finds peace on the other side of the Veil.

Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com
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4 comments:

Vanitha said...

Your sister may have been a "marshmallow" on the inside, but you did find a way of "roasting" her - you "innocent" bread poker!

Expressing memories like this will always keep the essense of loved ones alive in your heart. Thank you for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

Hi there--been away for a bit. Sorry to hear about your sister, but it sounds as if she was a wonderful person and you were quite lucky to share some of this world with her.

Unknown said...

Trent - I haven't posted here before though I have been following along via my feed reader for a while. I wanted to point you to this as both your post and this one appeared in my reader together: http://sewayoleme.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/a-pact-with-the-living/

Trent Deerhorn said...

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the caring input.