Idol Survivor: "For My Sister"

[halfshellvenus]

For My Sister
idol survivor | daily-fic challenge, day four | 201 words

x-x-x-x-x

Do you remember
the mazes you built
in the hayloft of the barn?
Scratchy straw against my skin,
the scent tickling my nose
as I crawled by flashlight
through S-turns and elbows
to finally reach the heart.
A cat with new kittens
was the prize that waited.

Do you remember
the rides on your pony,
me blindfolded in front
with your arm around me
while you steered your steed
in arcs and criss-crosses,
double-backs and spins,
before peeling back the dark
to let me guess our location
on that farm some 70-acres wide?

Do you remember
when you read to me,
Dr. Seuss and other stories
given life by your energy
long before you would share them
with other preschoolers
in a career you would someday love?

Do you remember
that you were beautiful,
capable, giving,
the older sister so amazing
and so confident
that you were everything
I hoped I'd someday be?

I know this disease
is stealing control
of your muscles, your movements,
even parts of your deepest self.
But I hope it leaves enough
of who you are, who you were,
that all those moments
will stay with you
as they always have with me.

Will you remember?


--/--

Comments

[bsgsix]

Thank you so much. I actually have both - Type 1 Narcolepsy with Cataplexy (so it looks like I have seizures but instead, I fall asleep randomly and enter into REM cycles far too rapidly, causing convulsions) as well as the Secondary Progressive MS. So it's been - a lot, and hard to keep track of things. Fortunately, the people who do know (I haven't really said anything here, on Twitter, or on Instagram yet, but I will, once it sinks in a bit more) have all been very kind and supportive, family included.

I'm so sorry to hear your sister has Huntington's. That is a hell of a disease, and it's a cruel, unfair thing to have happen. I feel so awful that she - and by proxy, you - suffer this. The not driving is hard (I get that) and I know what happens when muscles degenerate and cognition goes away. So I'm just absolutely gutted for her, and for you. <3

Writing down the memories that matter is on my to-do list. I have tons of photos, but there are things I just want to have written down - good, bad, mundane, whatever seems/seemed important. That's the story of my life, and if I write it and eventually forget (and with MS, I will), it will be good to reread and say, "That was me. I did that."

Your writing just always - hits home and makes me feel something, from mirth to heartache. Truly, truly well done. <3