Saying Goodbye

(Cookies Made with my Little Sister)
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

As part of our last evening together, my Little Sister* and I went to pick out stationary together.

She wanted to go to Wal-Mart to find the perfect paper, "Because I trust them."

As we walked through the aisles, she asked, "Why don't you shop at Wal-Mart? Where do you buy your clothes?" And I thought about how I do not shop there as a personal choice, reinforced by certain eye-opening documentaries. And how, in this moment, it didn't matter.

"Oh, I don't know. The other day I was at Kohl's," I said.

"Oh," she said.

She found a pack of pastel-colored paper. We grabbed a box of envelopes and made our way to the check-out line.

Then we went to the McDonald's in the store. Another place that I only go to with her. Armed with cookies (for her) and a latte (for me), we set at a booth next to some Vietnam vets discussing relationships. I pulled out the 17 ninety-eight cent stamps I'd purchased earlier in the afternoon.

"Ok," I said, "Let's get started. I'll write the addresses. Will you be in charge of the stamps?"

I began addressing the envelopes to myself in Porto Alegre.

My Little Sister affixed the stamps. Of course, I was slower than her. "Try some of my cookie," she said, "It's good. McDonald's does them just right: nice and soft and a little chewy."

"Oh that's okay," I started to say but she had already placed a piece of cookie near me. I popped it in my mouth. She was right. It was good. "You're right," I said, "That is good."

"Told you so," she said, "So, when do you get there?"

"On Tuesday."

"Ok, so I'm gonna write you a letter write now. And I'm going to mail it on Saturday and it'll be there for you when you get there."

I laughed.

"What?! I'm going to miss you. I have to let you know that."

"No, no, that's great of you," I said, "I won't look at what you're writing so I'll be surprised."

I continued to write addresses. She occasionally asked me for help with spelling certain words.

She folded the letter, placed it in the envelope and sealed it with zeal. "Now there's a letter for you!"

She returned to putting on stamps. "Oops, I forgot to write USA on the return addresses," I said, "Can you do that?"

"This is fun!" she said, "I like this!"

"I can't wait to get letters from you," I told her.

"What do you want me to write you about?" she asked.

"Well, how you're doing, what's going great, what isn't going so great."

"It'll be like a 1/2 hour TV show every week!" she said.

"Exactly - I'll get updates from you filling me in on what's been going on. The Life of My Little Sister. So what would you like from me? Would you like mostly postcards or would you like letters?"

"Postcards with pretty pictures....oh you know what? Let's fold the paper too and put it in the envelopes so it's ready to go every week."

She divided up the colors to make sure they were almost evenly represented and we put them in the envelopes. Then we put the envelopes back in the box for her storage.

It was a lovely evening (minus time spent wrangling with the Apple store earlier on my Little Sister's behalf which would be a rant so I'll spare y'all for now) spent in two places that I would never, ever go to on my own, with the coolest 15-year-old I know. We've been hanging out for just shy of three years now, with interruptions of no more than two weeks in between each time we see each other.

I'm going to miss her. I can't wait to get her first letter.

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*The young woman I mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters