What is it like growing up with sisters? Growing up with sisters is both like having built in friends, and also having built in arch-enemies. I feel the need to add that when the parents are away, the older sibling has complete reign. These nights were often the perfect opportunity for the perils of our sibling relationship to rear their ugly head.
One night in particular, we were being babysat because our parents had gone out to dinner. We decided it would be a good idea to fix heaping bowls of ice cream. I assure you, this was a mislead thought, especially for me. There we sat, bowls overflowing with chocolatey goodness, while my sister was forming a sinister plan. She placed her hand about six inches above her bowl of ice cream and said to me with a completely straight face, “I bet you can’t hit my hand with your face!” Let the record show that I was only four years old, compared to her eight-year-old deviance. I responded with the most amount of defiance I could muster and said, “Oh, I bet you I can!” As I slammed my head down toward her hand with extreme confidence, she quickly removed her hand from above the bowl and my face met the freezing ice cream. I was wearing a face mask that I was not prepared for. My sister thought this was hilarious. In her mind, she had never been more clever than she was in that moment.
This moment to me seems like the most accurate description of what it is actually like to have sisters. First a horrifying moment of an ice cream filled face, followed by uncontrollable laughter.
The practice of pranking is handed down through siblings like the hand me downs you were forced to wear. I myself have participated in this tradition.
One time my younger sister and her friends proceeded to prank call my phone. They, however, did not know the art of protecting the name of the number they were calling from. So, looking down at my phone and seeing that Molly was calling, I answered only to hear constant giggling on the other line. After hanging up, I waited for them to call back. I quickly handed the phone to a friend who answered in a bold voice “Hello, this is the police department. We got a tip that you have been prank calling, and you need to stop before we send a squad car.” There was dead silence on the other end, and then the line went dead. Not long after, I got a call from my mother alerting me that I had upset my younger sister by calling the “police”. Molly called me back and in a panicked voice said “Isabel, you called the police on me? You can’t call the police on your sister!” I cannot say that I was proud of this, but I did realize the similarities between my older sister’s treatment of me and what I did to Molly.
So, to answer the question, having sisters is both hilarious and frustrating. The pranks, laughter, and pushing of buttons.
