By SAMANTHA RIG
I remember the excitement of packing up my bags for college and revelling at the prospect of finally escaping the totalitarian clutches of the Rigo regime. Ironically, I fled from my family in Aurora, Colo., to family in Provo.
I circumvented living in the dorms by living with Jenn, my older sister by 13 months. Growing up, she had been my comrade, companiera, confidant, bosom buddy, partner in crime, etc.
Jenn would probably say I was not a kind sister but a sinister slave driver. She never has forgiven me for the little blackmailing phase that lasted only three or four years.
At the tender age of seven, my sister withdrew her company from me for the company of peers. The delightful afternoons full of constructing space vessels out of sheets and clothespins were being threatened. Desperate times called for desperate measures and I had to resort to my powers of persuasion.
The ugly days of blackmailing and resentment are over and we have been living together in sororal harmony for three years.
The biggest plus to living with a sister is that you have someone who understands you and sometimes even thinks like you. For example, Jenn and I have no rational explanation for the semiannual occurrence of the weirdfest (I think it has to with summer and winter solstice).
Weirdfests are spontaneous and sometimes destructive occurrences where we get rather silly. One particularly memorable weirdfest included vengefully burning some bras that stubbornly refused to be broken in and accidentally setting off the apartment smoke alarm.
Although Jenn and I look back on our pyromaniac weirdfest days with a chuckle, we will never do it again — not indoors, anyway. The stench of burning Spandex leaves much to be desired.
Another perk about living with a sister is that you can tell her to wash her dishes or scrub the toilet without mincing words. There is something so cathartic about saying exactly what you feel.
And, of course, there are those moments when a sister can be capable of extreme kindness. Moments like when you’ve failed a test, or when you need to borrow money, or when you need a hug, or when you need someone beaten up, or when you need food, or when ..
