A Different Flower In the Same Garden

This is my favourite picture of my baby sister and I was thrilled when it fell out of the photo album I was flipping through here at my parents' place. 

One of my first memories was riding in an elevator with my dad when I was four years old.  He took my hand as we stepped out of the strange room and walked down a bright hallway, stopping in front of a giant window that was inside the building. I looked up to see a lady in a white dress with a matching white hat, standing on the other side of the glass. She bent over something beside her, and lifted a small bundle.  She turned towards us, revealing a rosey cheeked, blue eyed baby with fuzzy blonde hair, wearing nothing but a bulky white diaper.  As she let out a wail my dad tilted his head towards me, eyes still on the baby. 

"That's your sister." he said.  I remember a tight feeling in my chest and a lump in my throat.  My nose felt strange and prickly, my eyes prickled too, and suddenly it was hard to see. 

It was many years before I understood what was happening to me in that moment and it amazes me to think that it came on so automatically.  I can't imagine that I would have had any concept of understanding what having a sister meant.  But even if four year old me hadn't a clue, something in my heart was trying to tell me it was going to be pretty special.