47Sisters are like salad. They are not always what you’d
choose, but they are good for you. While I am told that
there’s scientific evidence proving that having sisters
is good for your health there is absolutely no science
behind what I have just said. This is based on 38 years
of experience and love of a good analogy.
And what I mean is this. The fact that you can
choose your friends but not your family is a well-worn
adage. In the case of sisters, I believe that this is a good
thing. Let’s go back to the salad.
You might choose chips and, don’t get me wrong,
there’s a place for them (like good pals) in your life, but
the salad is what you need to provide the real juicy stuff
and the balance. Salads and sisters are healthy even
when they are hard to swallow. They will tell you the
truth. There are no eggshells. They can be surprisingly
good, as anyone who has experienced the comforting
squish of a dough ball, or the squeak of halloumi or the
tang of a naughty dressing can attest. They may use the
list of forbidden ingredients you’ve pulled together as
a blueprint for your hen do, but sometimes they know
what you need more than you do. Even butlers in the
buff have their place. And no salad is the same – even if
they are concocted in the same kitchen. Swap salad for
sister and kitchen for bedroom and you get my drift.
You see, despite our brother referring to us in the
collective as ‘the sisters’ – as if we were one – for most of
our formative years, me and my two sisters weren’t peas
in a pod. We were, and are, so different. I like writing
and am sporty. Sister #2 is allergic to writing other
than in bullet point form but can reupholster chairs and
paint mountain scenes on nursery walls that look better
than the pictures on Pinterest that inspired them. In
the meantime, mass hysteria ensues whenever I attempt
to make a birthday cake or to grow something green or
do anything remotely crafty (sorry readers – I realise
the irony of this statement given the nature of this
publication). Sister #3 would rather stick pins in her
eyes than run a marathon and had to make up hobbies
to go on her CV (where sister #2 had approximately
453 by the age of seven) but is the most amazing blend
of kindness and no nonsense in a way that is totally
unique in the world, not just among us sisters.
Sister #2 and I fought hard as kids. Doors were
slammed with a ferocity that shook the foundations of
our family home. Pitch forks were thrown like javelins
(true story, we grew up in Cornwall). And sister #3 was
five years younger, so while the competitive sparring
wasn’t nearly as intense, she could be easily dismissed
amongst the hormonal fog of adolescence.
But on the f lip side we shared everything – clothes,
beds, baths (and therefore all manner of bodily f luids!).
We ganged up against our parents on curfews, skirt
length, boyfriends, leg shaving, slip-on shoes, belly
button piercings and what constituted a swear word.
We were allies and foes in the same breath. And we
were a force to be reckoned with.
As we grew up, f lew the nest and out from underare like salad
Why sisters
Are sisters good for you? Sally Wyatt explores how, even
when they are not necessarily what we’d choose, they
may be exactly what we need.