Guest Post – Sister Edition!

She is the one person I know who does everything the “right way…”

She married the right man

She waited for exactly the right time to have her first child

She makes the right financial decisions

She cooks the right recipes

She does her job the right way

She writes the right way

She celebrates Christmas the right way

She will even admit that in her brain there is a search party that is always trying to find the “right” way to do just about everything!
 
In fact, a friend of mine recently admitted that when in doubt she asks herself, “What would Rebecca Gould do?”

From a stereotypical stance, one would think that Rebecca, in all of her perfection, might make for a jealous and rivaling little sister (me, Ellen). But, this is simply not the case. In fact, despite our 8 year age difference, my sister and I are remarkably close.

She has never made me feel like I need to compete with her (aside from seeing who can sprint the fastest at 3:00am in downtown Detroit – ask her about that sometime). She has been mentoring and pointing me in the “right” direction for as long as I can remember…

When I was 8 years old, Rebecca volunteered to home-school me and my brother so that our mom could go back to college. (Your mom goes to college!) Being the English buff that she is, writing lessons were conducted in a very militant fashion. I thought she was a meanie back then, but to this day I still call upon her grammar rules and I replay her voice in my head as needed, “Remember El, ‘I’ comes before ‘E’ except after ‘C’ or when sounding like ‘A’ as in neighbor and weigh.”

“It’s not very lady like to wear a different color nail polish on your hands and feet.”

“When your nail polish starts to chip, you need to take it off right away.”

“You need to shower every day now, and definitely start wearing deodorant every day too.”

“You can’t wear daisy dukes anymore, you don’t want to look like a hussy, right?”

When the birds and the bees conversation was too awkward to discuss with my parents…Rebecca educated me.

When I couldn’t FOR THE LIFE OF ME learn how to drive a stick shift car despite my dad’s and brother’s best efforts to teach me…Rebecca patiently taught me in the female language.

When my heart was broken for the first time…Rebecca was my only comfort.

When I needed a loan…Rebecca co-signed.

When I needed a place to live after college…Rebecca housed me.

When I needed to submit a resume for the first time…Rebecca wrote it.

When a taxi driver backed into my car…Rebecca reprimanded him and called the cops.

As cocky and insensitive as this may seem, when I hear other people talk about “how great their sister is” or “what a great relationship they have with their sister” I can’t help but think it’s impossible that any of these “supposed sisters” even compare to mine.

Rebecca is in the midst of a crazy turning point in her life right now. Her lifelong dream of becoming a stay at home mom is finally coming true. And, as if that in and of itself is not surreal enough, her younger sister (me) is taking over her beloved job.

For the next 8 weeks Rebecca is going to train me on the very complex ins and outs of her job. When I picture in my mind what this is going to look like, I picture the days when she home-schooled me. I even bought a bunch of index cards this weekend, so bring on the flashcards!

What I don’t think people realize is that Rebecca has essentially been preparing me for this job since my graduation from college 3 years ago. Obviously, we didn’t realize it back then, but it’s clear to me now that the only reason I qualify for her position is because of her strict mentorship from the beginning of my young career. She has this uncanny knack of pushing me, teaching me, and polishing me in just the right way. I can’t express how pivotal her role has been in developing me into the young woman that I am today.

Experience has taught me that it pays off to do things the Rebecca way, it’s always the right way : )