The Sketch

Today was spent packing up art work we have collected over the years when I came across this sketch of our daughters from October 1999. Megan would have been 7 ½ years old and Lauren would have just turned 13 years old. This sketch was done at Six Flags Amusement Park in Vallejo California during a family outing. Nate would have already been in his second year at U.C. Santa Barbara.

None of us remember this particular day and it was pre-camera phone days or we’d probably have an actual photo or two in our archives. At the time, Joe and I were not the parents who took cameras with us for an excursion. Even today we will come home from visiting someone and not have snapped a photo or two with our cell phones. We will definitely try to change that as we begin our travels.

Megan and Lauren are not biological sisters, we are a blended family. Lauren is Joe’s daughter and Megan was my daughter. When the girls were younger and we would shop together, people would stop and tell them they looked a lot alike. Once Lauren’s mom said to me that she had come across a photo of Megan as a child and it took her a moment to figure out it was Megan and not Lauren.

This sketch does not reflect that Lauren was blonde and Megan’s hair was turning  brown at this age.  The sketch artist captured their eye color, the way their hair waved, and their lip shapes – the dash of color on their lips makes the eye colors pop.

I had forgotten this piece until I cleaned off Joe’s side of the Master Closet. It was tucked away at the back of a shelf. I vacillated on whether to pack it or ask Lauren if she wanted it for any reason. I decided to pack it – I realized I wasn’t ready to give up this one memory I have of the two of them sitting side by side and so excited to have this sketch done. With the age difference, the times when they were this friendly with each other were rare.

It also didn’t help that Megan had become accustomed to her role as “murder victim” when Lauren would have friends over and she, Megan,  wanted to hang out with the older girls. The older girls would tell her they were playing at solving a crime. They didn’t physically hurt Megan – they just told her she had to lay down and pretend to be dead (and she wasn’t allowed to move or talk).

Still Megan adored her ‘older sister’ Lauren. Whatever Lauren planned to do; Megan would excitedly want to do the same activity. Lauren didn’t appreciate the hero worship.

In later years, when both girls had left home, they would get together on occasion to watch movies at Megan’s house. Megan has since moved to Minnesota while Lauren is still here in Woodland.

Thinking back on my own relationship with my sister, I truthfully do not think biology makes the bond automatically stronger. I think of all of my ‘chosen’ sisters and know that I love them deeply.

Yes, I will haul this sketch (in a clear plastic frame) all of the way across the country because in reality it is a reminder of so much more than my two girls on this one day in October of 1999.