Trick or Treat: Sisters

My sister (we'll call her Hermanita- "little sister" in Spanish) and I are the only children in our immediate family, and we're nearly six years apart in age. Bummer, some might say. Are you crazy? I'd reply. Being six years apart made it so that we didn't fight nearly as much as sisters do who are closer in age. Don't get me wrong- we still fought- but it wasn't that often-territorial-rooted-in-jealousy-mean kind of fighting that leaves scars on the relationship. Hermanita has been my best friend for her whole life.

Last night we popped by my mom-and-dad-in-laws on our way home from seeing the musical "Wicked" in Denver. Mom-and-dad-in-law live on a street that goes INSANE for Halloween, somthing Hermanita doesn't really get since she spent most of her childhood living in a forest neighboorhood- it was a long walk to trick-or-treat, so there weren't ever many people out. Last night she was astonished to see that in five minutes, the doorbell rang more times in five minutes than in an entire year or two of Halloween at our house growing up. We took a walk up the street where some of the neighbors had transformed their cul-de-sac into a Pirate Cove- complete with HUGE ships. (Regretting that I didn't have my camera to show you the pictures..... they even had about 20 people decked out as pirates as the "cast" of the street.) Anyway, Hermanita was feeling a little as if she'd missed out on what trick-or-treating could be like, so I reminded her of a few different costumes we had.

Here Hermanita and I are dressed up as nurses. Hermanita's about 3 years old and I'm about 9. (Notice that she's wearing sweatpants and I'm wearing tights and a sweatshirt- it's always cold at Halloweeen here.) We've been princesses, angels, and a variety of other fun "girly" type things. We've trick-or-treated in big neighborhoods and little neighborhoods and we've had "fall parties" with neighbors. We've gone trick-or-treating for canned goods with the youth group instead of for candy (except peope always gave us candy, too). We, as my students would say, are "BFFs"(best friends forever). Hermanita teases me and calls me "Hermanita mayor"- which means "little older sister," because there have been many, many times in our lives where she has been more like my big sister, than I have been hers. We trade roles.


Almost 20 years later, here we are again, just yesterday standing outside the theater where we saw "Wicked." We may not be dressed up in costumes, but we had a ton of fun, as we almost always do when we're together.

Having a little sister- trick or treat? Well, I'd say it's a treat, at least 99% of the time.