My beautiful sister lives 700 miles away from me. Despite not talking often, or even regularly for that matter, we're always able to pick up right where we left off, as if no time has passed at all.
In the midst of planning her wedding last April, she phoned to let me know that she wished to pay our travel expenses so we could attend. Not only would it be my first time traveling to the place she left home for so many years ago, but it also was one of the most generous gifts anyone has ever offered me.
While I visited, we spent as much time together as we could, catching up on life, marriage, and family. She beamed as she talked about her wish to grow her family soon after her wedding. And just a few months later, I received the news that her wish had come true. She was pregnant with a girl! Her excitement was infectious, and I cried happy tears in anticipation of her exciting future.
I was busy with our dogs when I missed my stepmother's call. When I noticed her name on my phone, my first thought was that something happened to my father. Fear sank in as I saw she had left a voicemail. My fingers shook and my heart raced as I listened to her tearful recording, informing me that my sister had lost her baby.
For me, this was one of those moments that made everything else in my life seem unimportant. I decided soon after to send my sister my Giving Key engraved with the word, Hope. HOPE that all her dreams for her life come true, HOPE for continued healing and comfort, and HOPE that she always knows how much she means to me, and just how much I love her.
-Tricia
