There is a reason I don't go on more trips with my sister, and I remembered the reason today.
My sister and I are complete opposites in just about every category known to man, except when it comes to shopping. It's a miracle we don't show up wearing the same outfit more often. We seem to get along fine for about 24 hours, then I just can't take it anymore and I turn into an evil, mean version of myself. I think I lost it when, on our first night in the hotel, I started reading my bible and she gave me the "look." Oh, you know the look. The one that without saying a word it says "why are the world are you reading that crap" look. So, I told her about the Bible in 90 days challenge I was doing this summer. She said to me, "I thought you didn't like reading
fiction." I kept my cool and told her to believe what she wants, but it might be helpful to actually
read something before she makes up her mind about it, because she has never read the bible.
Throughout the weekend, I let my sister choose what we did. I gave into her wishes. We shopped until I dropped, and I spent a lot more money than I anticipated or budgeted. I let her choose where we ate, because it seemed like every suggestion I gave was met with a "I don't like that" reaction from her. So, I gave up suggesting. I let her listen to her music, which gave me a headache (apparently I'm old and don't like the youngins music anymore). I wanted pictures of us at various places so I could add them to the blog or as a sisterly facebook profile picture, she refused and whined about it. I only have one picture of me from the trip, and it's a bad picture of me with a bull outside a BBQ restaurant. And, I didn't get mad when we walked in the hotel room and there was only 1 king sized bed because she, on purpose, didn't tell me we were sharing a bed. I even let her use my razor because she forgot hers!
When it came time to drive home on Sunday, I was excited because I was ready to go home and I love a good road trip drive through mid-MO. We split the driving to Kansas City, so I figured we would split the driving back to St. Louis. I was apparently wrong. When we stopped in Columbia, MO, for lunch, I stated I was excited about driving the second leg of the trip and my sister stated that there way no way she was going to
allow me to drive. That was IT. I lost it. The one thing I had been looking forward to all day and she was denying me that one small pleasure I asked for when I let her dictate our entire weekend. I tried to tell her nicely that I really wanted to drive, I love driving, and I wanted to listen to my Christian music for the last leg. She refused. I started yelling, and she yelled back. She threatened to leave me by the side of the road in Columbia because I was being such a
beeeeeep.
So, I finally got in the car, on the passenger side, and engaged in some negative behavior that I am not proud of at all. Every time she turned on the radio with the headache producing music, I turned it off. She turned it on and yelled at me, and I turned it off. Juvenile, I know. Not my most amazing moment, but eventually she stopped turning it on and we drove from Columbia to St. Charles in silence. It was wonderful once I calmed down! No crap music on the radio that made me crazy. I tried to not think about the fact I wasn't driving and she was just doing a power play. I got out my iPhone and opened the iRosary app to silently pray to try and get balanced again after my angry episode and beg forgiveness for not being Christ to my sister in that moment. I can't do it alone, and I'm not perfect. But today, I absolutely lost it.
It's really unlike me to just lost it and yell and someone. Something about my sister just drives me to the edge of sanity every time I spend extended time with her. I feel like I need to limit my time in order to keep the peace. It's too bad, because she's my only sister.
