Two Day Magazine

The joys of having a built-in best friend...

My sister Sara is the only person on this gorgeous earth that I can take clothes shopping with me and know that I will get an honest opinion about whatever I try on.

My bridal shower is Sunday and, of course, I needed a new outfit.

What to wear?! Dress?  Skirt suit? Pants and a fancy ruffled top?

Decisions.  Decisions.

Sara and I are two of the wildest, most liberal feminists you'd ever meet.  I'm the super girly one, she's the more classically stylish, sophisticated one.  The brands of feminism that each of us subscribe to are evident in the way we dress.

I went into this shopping trip thinking I'd like to take a page out of Sara's style book and wear some fabulously tailored pants and a perfectly fitted top to my shower.

I tried on every style of pants that The Limited has to offer...

...and I was reminded why I'm the one that always wears dresses.  

These wide hips!  This ba-donka-donk butt!  These cyclist thighs!  They're not meant for pants!   

But this waist!  This flat tummy!  This petite bust!  Diane von Furstenberg could make me her new muse for her dress designs!  

(Call me, Diane!  I'm available!)

Having Sara in those dressing rooms with me on this shopping trip was better than any mirror any woman could have.

And, isn't that what best friends are for?  To be your mirror when you need a good reflection of yourself?  

She's my sister.  But she's so much more than that.  "Sister" isn't nearly a big enough word to describe what she is to me and what she means in my life.

Sure, we fight.  Sometimes she thinks I'm the biggest flibbertigibbet on earth and it makes her want to smack me.  And, sometimes, I could pull her hair for how logically she approaches life.

But, all of the cases of sibling rivalry you hear about and all of the competition that exists in families has no place and no room in our relationship.  

At the end of the day, I know I can talk to her about anything.  And, she knows she can talk to me about anything.  

There are things we know about each other that no one else will ever know or ever need to know.  There were bad situations we put ourselves in and poor decisions we've made and destructive partying phases we both went through.  


But, only the two of us know the whole breadth of each of those things.  And neither one of us are the gossipy type so these stories will go to the grave.  

(Sorry, Ma.)

It's not about keeping secrets.  It's about holding each other in a sacred light.  And, never breaking the trust we have in each other.  

Siblings are the only people on earth who will know you your whole life.  Who can deny that this fact makes the relationships you have with your siblings one of the most important relationships you'll ever have?

I came home from our shopping trip with a dress.  She told me truthfully how tragic I look in pants... and how lovely I look in the dress I brought home.

This shopping trip is a simple fable to prove a wider point that not all personal relationships need to be romantic to be important.

But, all good relationships are full of respect, honesty, love and maybe just a little dose of goofiness during the occasional lady-date to the mall.

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Sally is a regular contributor to twoday magazine and also pens a blog for CBS Local here in Pittsburgh. Find her on Facebook and tell her what your family means to you.