It's already been nearly a year since I last updated this
blog. I expect most people who have come across this site it was by accident,
and that makes me okay with what I want to write about today.
Not long after my previous post, I began planning a vacation
to Japan. I had wanted to visit Japan for at least twenty years (probably, most
definitely, longer than that) and my third oldest sister said, "We have to
go, soon." So, I planned our trip.
Late on the night of February 9th my sister and I landed in
Osaka, Japan after a six-hour flight delay. We managed to take some of the last
trains and made it to our hotel after midnight on February 10th. We spent five
full days in Osaka before we spent a week in Tokyo.
I was so fired up to write when I returned home. I was going
to finish book #4 in March. It was my goal.
Then, the lockdowns happened. Instead of being inspired I
found myself with good old writer's block.
An update?
I feel like I might be able to write again soon.
Though - and this hard to write - three weeks ago, my oldest
sister unexpectedly died.
I'm still in denial, but I know she's gone.
I was thinking of writing through my feelings, since
grieving my sister is different than grieving the death of our father, but I
think I'll just write how important my sister was to me.
I have three older sisters, I'm the baby. I've been close to
each one of my sisters at different points in my life. My second oldest sister
hogged me when I was a baby, so I usually say that's when we were closest. My
third oldest sister and I are really close now and she's one of my best
friends.
My oldest sister, who was eleven years older than me, was
closest to me at a crucial time in my life: Junior High. Seventh grade was
brutal for me. My best friends pretty much ditched me and I was hurt. I wasn't
perfect with dealing with it, and I still cringe at some of the things I said,
but I know I'm not the only one who had a miserable seventh grade year. There’s
just something about seventh grade.
My sister worked at the school I attended. I went to a K-8th
grade school. She was the fifth-grade teachers' aide. We would listen to
Natalie Imbruglia, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty when she drove me to
school. She was a champion for her sisters. If anyone was going to be mean to
us, she had our backs. She wasn't the aide during my recesses, but if she was
filling in for another aide, I was always happy. She gave the girls who gave me
problems an awesome glare that made them know, "Don't mess with my
sister." She really helped me through that year and eighth grade too.
My sister won a trip to Florida a few years ago. It was trip
for two, so I decided to go with her. We went on the trip in 2018. I'm really
happy we had that trip.
My sister liked my books, though I only know for a fact she
read the first one. I asked her on that Florida trip if I could name a
character in a book after her at some point. She didn’t like her first name and
always went by a shorter version of it, but I love her first name and wanted to
know if it would upset her if I used it.
She told me I could use it and I will.
Brittany
