My Sister, My Friend

When we were kids, my sister and I had bunk beds.  Even after we had separate rooms, I remember often sleeping in the same room, sharing a twin bed or creating a sleeping pad of blankets on the floor. 

Bunsen Bernie, our favorite Kiddle

At one point, I believe we asked for the bunk beds to be re-stacked so we could share a room again.  We would make a tent with blankets hung from the top bunk and play in the secret room created on the bottom bunk.  The wooden ladder to the top bunk made a fabulous platform from which our Liddle Kiddles could launch their afternoon adventures and from which our gonks* could hang from their Velcro- enlaced hands. Melanie and I are 18 months apart, and despite the years and miles that have separated us in our adult lives, she is still my very best friend.

When Mel was a senior, she played Nellie Forbush in our high school’s rendition of South Pacific.  (OMG --  have I mentioned that she SINGS?).  As a sophomore, I played my first and most memorable role in Sentinel High School’s theatre program – high in the back of the theatre on spot light.  As our amazing and terrifying director repeatedly screamed, my job was to “Stick to your sister like GLUE, damnit!” 

Mel was cuter than this

As my knowledge of the hot and whiny tin can they called a spot light grew, it was my pleasure and honor to shine that light on my big sister as she sang, danced, and “washed that man right out of her hair.”

 Bald Eagle doing his own business

For the past weeks, traveling in the luxurious accommodation of Dad’s motorhome, Mel and I have again shared a room and a living space.  Yesterday, Dad and I dropped her at the Fairbanks airport so that she could meet her choir – Sacramento’s fabulous Schola Cantorum – for their tour of Germany.  My funny and talented sister managed to join us for the first leg of the trip AND maintain her real-estate business while she did so.  The technology which allowed her to explore British Columbia and parts of Alaska while she talked to new buyers and sellers, negotiated with fellow realtors, and conferenced with her broker amazed me, but her determination and knowledge impressed me.  Mel’s phone and ipad accompanied us on most outings;  in the early days of our explorations, I would unknowingly interrupt her conversations, not realizing that her phone (on silent), had beeped, rung, or twiddled and that while she “oohed” and “aahed” at the scenery she was also texting her way through a delicate business deal.

Mel negotiates a contract

She addressed sellers’ questions while we watch a bald eagle at the site of former gold rush town of Dyea.   She reviewed the days’ deals with her broker on the harbor at Skagway, and from the outlook of the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge, she caught up on her voice mail after several “no service” hours of travel through Yukon and Alaskan wilderness.  Our little kitchen table became her office where first thing in the morning and for 2-3 hours after we stopped driving for the day, she would type into endless forms, arrange for showings, and talk through negotiations with sellers (some, shall we say, needing more TLC than others). 

But it wasn’t all work.  We cooked and cleaned, hiked and shopped, navigated for Dad, and spotted wildlife.  We toured the amazing sights. Of BC, the Yukon, and Alaska.  

Mel and Dad outside of Hyder, AK

Mel & new friend, Carcross

Sitting outside in the evening, she chatted comfortably with our traveling companions (we did not inherit identical skill sets!), and even made friends with the locals whether at the shops, in the campground, or at the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival.  In fact, if not for her research, we would have missed that great outing entirely! Mel nursed me through my annual bout of bronchitis -- alternately worrying about my cough, administering every possible medication available in small town, one-shelf pharmacies, and adamantly commanding that I “just try not to cough.”  And then, just to test my adherence to that command, she made me laugh  -- wedging herself (with amazing grace) up to her shoulder in the couch cushions, stumbling through the kitchen before she was quite awake, sharing tales of her amazing kids (she has FOUR COLLEGE GRADUATES!), changing clothes in creative and unexpected ways, and just being my big sister. 

I am so glad that Mel arranged to come with us for this part of the journey. I know she will miss us – but probably not my oh-so quiet 5:00 am wakeup routine! 

 

* Gonks are stuffed creatures that our paternal grandmother, Billie Douglas, created for us.  No pictures available!