My little sister opened the gift I had carefully wrapped just for her and quietly glared at me.
“Go on!” I smiled back. “Show everyone what I made for you!”
She flipped the mirror around and everyone oohed and ahhed. “Kathy, did you MAKE that!?!”
“Yes. Why yes I did.” I replied smugly.
I made it in shop class, just. for. my little sister. It was a mirror with a beautiful rose etched into the glass and a frame made of wood that I cut and sanded myself in shop class.
Who knew I had such a knack for carpentry?
My sister, on the other hand, failed to take in the beauty of my hard work, because she saw what I wanted her to see…her initials etched into the mirror just beneath the thorny stem of the rose.
ALBM.
Most people have three initials. A letter for the first, middle, and last name. When my Mom and stepdad were married they gave us the option to take his last name. Since our last name was really the only connection we had left to our Dad, we all kept it, but I think my sister sort of felt bad about nobody taking it so she stepped up to hyphenate her last name just like my Mom had. Approximately six months later she changed her mind.
But I was not going to allow her to flip flop. No no no…when you remove your hand from your game piece your play is complete. You may not take your hand away, see your mistake, and then move back.
NO. FLIP. FLOPPING.
By carefully etching the first letter of her new last name into glass, I was basically flipping her the proverbial bird. You switched your name, you made your choice, and oh yeah…you’re no longer my sister.
I all but dared her to call me out after opening the gift. Our entire family was together, it was Christmas morning for crying out loud…would she actually take a stand and cause a scene over her new last initial in front of our stepdad? Isn’t that what I was daring her to do? Wasn’t that the awkward moment I was SO looking forward to creating as I spent hours at school etching the rose and each of it’s letters?
Was this not great fun!?!
Unfortunately, my sister did not see the humor in my denouncing her from her biological family. But ultimately, she wins. Because all these years later she’s still a member of the family (as hard as I tried) and she gets the added bonus of looking like a sweetheart for so openly accepting our stepdad’s last name in an attempt to make him feel loved and welcome.
I, on the other hand, was a mean mean girl. I intentionally put her on the spot with high hopes of embarrassing her in front of our step dad and with no consideration for my stepdad’s feelings (whether he even picked up on any of it I sincerely doubt. I’m pretty sure he thought the mirror was brilliant. He loved me.).
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that my sister was ever as offended by that mirror as she let on over the years, because you know what?
Nearly twenty-five years later, she’s still using it.
Pretty sure that makes it the best gift ever!