Imagine waking up in your fifties and finding out you have four sisters! That’s right, four sisters! Well, that’s exactly what happened to me! Thanks to www.23andme.com, I received a call on July 10, 2020, and just like that, sisters forever had a whole new meaning!
Growing up, I always wanted a sister, but it was not in the cards for me. When I was 19 years old, we got an addition to our family, thanks to my mom being a foster parent. In walked two-year old Leontyne, and although she is my OG little sister, I feel more maternal to her than anything else. We didn’t share makeup or clothes; we didn’t go on double dates together and she never ever “borrowed” my shoes. Instead, I took her to the mall with me and really liked combing her hair, like she was my little doll. This was definitely unchartered territory.
Discovering four sisters is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, right after finding my biological parents and giving birth. But it’s complicated. One of my sisters is 22 years old. She’s younger than my own child and probably didn’t dream of having a sister that’s almost 40 years older than she is. My other three sisters are within two years of my birth. Two are biological and one is a stepdaughter from a previous marriage. Strangely, this is the one daughter that my dad technically raised, besides the 22-year-old. I know it’s a lot to follow, but we’ll talk about that another time.
My New Sisters
First, there’s my sister Mia, born two years after me. She’s the one who found me; I was conceived when her mom and my dad were engaged to be married. Then there’s Tabetha. She was born a year after me. Her mother was an acquaintance of Mia’s mom, and she attended the wedding. I know it sounds messy; because it is. Then there’s Melany. Her mom and my dad were married when Melany was a young kid. After a couple of decades and a few more marriages, my dad married and had Imani. All of us have different moms.
We’ve all met and it’s been nothing but love from Day 1. As a family, we all get along and so do our kids. In fact, the cousins got so close that some of them got matching tatoos! I was the last one to join the sisterhood, so I’m defintely getting to know everyone. And it’s not easy. We’re all grown women, set in our ways with different experiences growing up and different relationships with our dad. I don’t think we have any sibling rivalry, since we didn’t grow up together to compete for anything, but there are certainly challenges. One of my sisters is actually mad at me as I write this blog. She’s also told me multiple times that she will reach out and talk about a conflict or issue when she’s good and ready. And for a month, she hasn’t been ready. So, since it’s all new to me, I’ll figure it out and we’ll resolve everything. Because at the end of the day, we are sisters forever.