Twin Time

"I may be a twin but I'm one of a kind."  ~Author Unknown

My sister Cathy likes to tell people we are twins.  We look nothing alike and have very distinct personalities.  We're almost two years apart in age.  Set that all aside.  In many ways, for all intents and purposes, we are twins.  

As the younger twin, I grew up with Cathy as my protector, best friend, closest confidante. She is the other half of me.  It was so hard for us to fathom being apart when we grew up, that I sped up my schooling so we could finish university virtually at the same time.  Cathy moved from our childhood home to Toronto one month before I joined her.  She stayed here with our oldest sister Nancy who moved the month I started high school.  We both cried for hours at her parting though we knew it would be brief. Once in Toronto, we got an apartment together in the building next to Nancy's.  We lived together until Cathy married many years later.  Even then we have never lived more than a few blocks apart.  

We are quite a trio.  Nan is a fair bit older than we are, a difference which is insignificant in adulthood but a large gap in childhood.  We three are very close, speaking everyday, sharing friends and mothering my son as the only offspring we managed to produce.   We have vacationed many times together over the years, starting with a sisters trip to Phoenix, a graduation gift from my parents.  

It has been a difficult few months.  Cathy has been unwell.  A myriad of tests produced some alarming  but managable results but we are still without a definitive diagnosis.  The tests have been brutal and the treatments hard.  If I could take them for her, I would.  I've cried a million tears and prayed earnestly through many long nights.  I've tried to make a bargain with God, much in the way I know she tried to make hers when I was sick. I remind myself frequently to take it one day at a time.

The depth of my angst has in many ways been exacerbated by the unrelenting deep freeze of this brutal winter.  I've longed for a sun escape but didn't feel I could go until things settled down with Cath.  For the first time in two decades, Merv and I will not have a winter vacation together.  He started a new job in January and can't take the time.  A sisters vacation would be perfect but Nancy doesn't want to leave my mom.  Cath is through her array of scheduled tests and has no medical appointments scheduled for next week.  She too is anxious for a patch of sand and some sun on her shoulders.  Yesterday we booked a week in a five star resort in The Dominican Republic.  We leave on Sunday; no husbands, no work, no worries. Just a week of twin time with the other half of me.