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After five unforgettable weeks together, yesterday I dropped
off my sister at the airport and bid her a tearful good-bye.
Now, there is a giant hole inside my heart that only a
sister can fill.
Her first visit was fourteen years ago. Since then, we
exchanged a ton of e-mails, talked on Skype countless times. We paid a couple
of all too short, rushed visits to her and the rest of my family in Europe. One
can say that we could have, should have done more to arrange more time together.
But life
has a way of interfering with could-haves and should-haves.
Just as, sooner or later, life has a way of forcing the true
love out into the open.
She spared no expense in coming, paying her own way,
apparently blind to sacrifice of leaving everyone and everything behind for
such a long time.
Days and weeks before her coming, I was cleaning like a mad banshee, clearing out as much clutter as I could, making room for her both in the house and in my schedule, daydreaming about
what it’s going to be like to live with her again under the same roof.
I admit, I was a bit apprehensive, too.
Will she feel at home?
Will we drive her crazy? (I know we will – it’s inevitable!) How are we all
going to adjust to another person inside our little family’s rut? How’s she
going to adapt to not just our family’s but also this country’s strange ways
and rhythms, values and habits?
I understand that most people can’t afford such extravagant
luxury of the gift of time. Sure, we had some exceptional circumstances that justified the incredible splurge. But, during those fleeting five weeks, I realized that there is
nothing – nothing – that can replace
an extended time of living together, under the same roof, sharing life, meals,
laundry, recipes and everything else.
An open-book life with no place or desire to hide or keep
secrets.
It was the most refreshing experience I’ve had in a long, long time.
I think it gave me a tiny taste of what it was like when Jesus left
his home and country, Father, saints and angels and moved in to live with us…
...what a gift that was and how life-altering the experience would be not only for those who received him but also for the Son of God himself.
