My Sister, Ayla

Posted on September 28, 2011

“i wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills.

for the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road.

for the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end.

but, mainly, i wish you could have been there.”  ~Story People

I have not seen my sister in six years.  She just left today after a sweet five-and-a-half day visit.  She is five years younger than me but we were always connected at the hip until I moved to the East Coast in 1981.  Now we are connected in our hearts.  Oh my, has it really been that long?!  The two of us had grand plans as teenagers.  We were going to live far in the hills in a log cabin.  We would grow everything we ate, sit around in the evenings and spin wool, knit and sew our clothes.  We would marry mountain men and raise our children together.  We would grow old in each others company, have long, grey braids and sit in rocking chairs sipping herbal tea and reminisce.

Maybe some day we will do the last part together.  It is too late to do the rest.  When we do get together it is always the same – the feeling that no time has divided us, almost as though one of us just went out for a few hours and then walked in the door to continue where we left off.

The following photos are of my beautiful sister.  For both of us it brought back so many memories of when we lived at Long Beach in Washington state.  We would photograph each other and play in the ocean.

The next day we went to a local apple orchard to do a few shots .  What a magical place.