One night while living in New York during a college internship, I was chatting with my roomates in the kitchen when my phone ringed. I looked down at the caller id and saw “Dad” flash across the screen.
“Hi Dad, what’s up?” I asked.
We chatted for a few minutes, until at one point, my Dad changed the subject and tone. He told me he’d fallen in love recently, and well, had proposed. He explained how he met her in Kenya while photographing children in an orphanage. It was a brief run in, they just bumped into each other in the hallway where he asked to snap her picture. “She had a great smile,” I remember him telling me.
A month later, he received an e-mail from the woman, Caroline, asking for the picture. Gradually, through e-mail exchanges and long distance phone calls, he fell for Caroline. Before anyone knew what had grown between them, he proposed. (I attribute my adventurous, hopeless romantic nature to my Dad. )
She said yes!
After two years of visa paperwork, a trip back to meet her family, and tons of hoops to jump through, she finally arrived to Nebraska with 9-year old Jasmine in tow. Our family suddenly grew from three to five, a year and a half later, a new addition arrived. Her name, Neriah.
There is 22 years between Neriah and me and 12 between Jazz and me, but our bond, which includes our older sister Katie, is solid. When we’re all together, silliness always ensues! I never imagined ten years ago that I’d have two new sisters, nor that despite our age differences, we’d all be so close. I’ve always been the baby, which in my family meant I doing “favors” for my older sister, asking for advice, and getting it even when I didn’t ask, and the one with the least experience. All that has changed. Last week I had Jasmine up to visit. I realized it was now my time to treat, tease, and teach her. What a gift! On Jazz’s last day, my Dad and Caroline came to pick her up with Neriah. With a lump in my throat, I snapped these pictures below. I love them so much and feel lucky as can be to have three great sisters who bring me all this joy.
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In this nine-by-nine below, my little sister, five-year old Neriah, shows me her many different faces.
My sister Katie and I in our kitchen back in Lincoln, Nebraska.