Not in this lifetime.

Honestly, it makes me sad that I can’t. It should be a normal part of any long-term, close relationship, shouldn’t it?

I don’t know why my parents didn’t say these words to us, but evidently it was hard for them. Because I felt a gaping hole from the lack of hearing it, I pushed through the discomfort and awkwardness that came with telling my newborn twins that I loved them and said it over and over and over again, until it felt natural. Now I tell my kids that I love them at least a couple times a day, always when they leave for school and before bed, and never does it feel strange. I even tell my nephews and nieces that I love them.

I’m so grateful that my kids can say it to each other with no mortification or embarrassment; that their relationships, though at times messy and conflicted, are overall loving and supportive. I’m proud when I hear them express their love freely to their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

What about you? Do you tell your kids you love them?

Yeah, right, I’d think to myself. There is NO way I’m going to be best friends with these jerks!

Well, as moms often are, she was right. The two I once dubbed as geeks, tattle-talers and stupid pains-in-the-neck as I sat, punished, in one of many corners pondering the best means for their mutual demise, are definitely my best friends. I’m grateful on an almost daily basis for them. Though as kids we fought Every. Single. Day. (sorry, Mom!), now we’re all confidantes, sources of support and lookouts. We’re fiercely defensive of each other, happy to lend a listening and sympathetic ear and we share just about everything. My sisters are two of the few people in the world I know I can trust with anything, including my life. I don’t know what I’d do without them and often feel sorry for other women who aren’t lucky enough to have a sister, let alone two.

It strikes me as beautifully sweet when I hear my twin daughters say, “I love you” to each other, as they often do before bed. Andie says to Rachel, “You’re the best sister in the world,” and they hug. Just as my mom reminded us of our future relationships with each other, I tell my daughters that they will always be best friends, even more so than they are now, and that looking out for each other is of the utmost importance. When Andie’s friends choose to be mean to or ignore Rachel, Andie needs to stand up for her sister.

After all, they will be there for each other for the rest of their lives. Grade school classmates most likely won’t. Little do they know just how deep a bond they are forging for the future.

Do you have sisters? Daughters? What is the best part of the sister relationship, in your opinion?

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