Growing Pains...Nora's Off to College

Twelve years ago I sobbed like a child as I hugged my baby sister outside of my college dorm.  She was six, I was seventeen.    I knew I was supposed to be overcome with joy because I was officially free of my parents and all that good stuff, but instead it felt a little like my heart was being ripped in two.  She was my sidekick, my favorite little girl.

And now, it's Nora who is leaving me, it should be easier this time, right?

I know it's cliche, but my sister is my best friend.   The term "best friend" makes me laugh because I think every woman has had about 10 "best friends" in her life time.  You know, the "best friends" we made in grade school, junior high, high school and college.  Some people were even cool enough to have a summer camp "best friend" (oh, how I was jealous of you).  Some of these people have left our lives, and others still linger, but there is nothing like the staying power of a true "best friend." 

And for me, that's my Norie.  She is amazing for 101 reasons, but mostly because she gets me.  Yes, she's an amazing person who has made me proud in the shave-your-head-for-cancer kind of way.  But she understands me like no one else can -- she can crack my code and speak my language.  She knows when I need her to laugh with me.    She knows when I am in need of a babysitter, always offering her time.  She knows when I need to vent.  She knows when we just need a trip to the creamery.

Today, my baby sister/sitter is on her way to college.  She's already had a 5-week stint at DePaul, so she knows how this college thing works.  She's strong and independant, and I know she will do great.  However, I just can't shake my saddness.  For the past four years we've been nearly inseperable...and for the past month we've seen each other nearly every day.  I am not looking forward to the withdrawl symptoms.

Since I hugged Nora outside my dorm twelve years ago, MUCH has changed in our lives.  Technically speaking, now we are both adults.  We have lost family members, literally and figuratively.  I have been her teacher and coach, she has been my student and athlete.  We have moved a time, or two.  She has learned to drive, I have been her passenger.  We have gained a step-father and step-brother.  Her boyfriend is a soldier.  She is an aunt, I am a mother. 

Our lives have been transformed; we are barely who we were back then, but one thing has remained constant.  She has always been, and will forever remain, my sidekick...my wonderful, sarcastic, compassionate, knowing, witty, brilliant sidekick.