My Sister Lisa

My sister Lisa is three years younger than me, we weren't super close growing up as she and my sister Shelly were closer in age but as we grew older we did become close.  She was only two years old when my mother and father separated and my father introduced the monster Ruth that would be our horrible nightmare of a step mother for years.

Lisa took a lot of the abuse when she was little since she was the one left at home while Shelly and I went to school.  Ruth was terrible to her, making her sit at the kitchen table for hours, forcing her to eat food she didn't like, even shoving it down her throat.  Years later, I heard of how Ruth beat her on many occasions, even having her stand in a closet for hours.

Finally when my father could no longer be blind what was going on as my sister Shelly spelled it out to him when she was 14, he finally left.  Lisa was afraid, she didn't believe that he wouldn't go back to Ruth so she refused to leave.  My father who was weak, didn't fight it... all of us should have forced  her to go, I think that Shelly and I were afraid ourselves but we were older, I knew without a doubt that I would NEVER go back even if dad did.

I always felt my sister Lisa was and is a good mom, she set boundaries when her children were little and stuck to it, I was weak and gave in.  So when I separated from Andrey finally, my sister and I decided to move in together, she was there for me and Valentina.  She was the best auntie Valentina could have asked for, she changed her life around to make mine better.  I worked late and couldn't afford to have someone pick up Valya and of course I couldn't pick her up myself.

Lisa did this for Valentina, she picked her up each day from daycare, then she would prepare dinner for her and have her dressed in her jammies before I got home from work.  When I was weak and couldn't set a bed time, she took over and helped me to get her into bed at a set time.  To this day, my Valentina goes to bed by 8:00-8:30.

My sister has tried to live her life authentically and I see her never giving up, she loves her children and her grandson.  She never judges her family or friends for the choices they make, she stands by them no matter what.  I know that my little Valentina will always have her aunt to be there for her in her time of need when she becomes a teen.

I pray for my sister daily, she has dealt with so much and you know what she said to me recently?  She told me of all of us that I deserved to be happy and finally have that happy ending.  I think we all deserve that after the life we have lead.  We came through horrific circumstances and we all survived and bettered ourselves when we could have just given up.

"Everything you want, also wants you" ~ Jack Canfield