This is my youngest sister. She has come to stay with me for a month, and I couldn't be happier about it.

When I look at her I see so much of myself (not just physically, although that is striking as well) - she has the same fierce practicality mixed with a driving need to please everyone. I watch her sensitivity to others feelings - watch her mood fall and rise with those around her - I get nervous for her. I want to tell her to be her own person - be confident in her own happiness, because she is happy. I want to tell her not be scared of so many things - the world is not the place my grandmother has made her believe, and that in general - it's o.k. to be wrong, and its o.k. if everything you do is not perfect. But how can I teach her these things when she learned most of them from me? I am 14 years older than her - I can remember playing with her in the middle of the night when she was wide awake and every one else was asleep. I can remember singing to her - one specific lullaby that would always make her stop crying. I can remember that she said my name first.