I have a feeling many of my preferences and life choices have been unintentionally influenced by my sister. Way back in the day, when she changed my mind on how pink and purple don't go together and how red and yellow did or maybe it was the other way around, when she thought having a little sister who could do the splits was cool therefore I learnt to do the splits and made Mumsies enroll me in ballet classes, when she once drank melted napoleon ice cream from a spoon a la Mary Poppins' medicine scene and I reenacted that quietly by myself for years, when she played the organ and I followed suit happily, when she played the piano and I followed suit more happily than following suit with the organ, when she failed at Chinese and I promptly declared myself a failure as well and landed myself in the bottom Chinese class in RGS, when she learnt French for a year because it was a beautiful language and I learnt French for a year and still think it is the most beautiful language I've ever heard ...
I don't think she remembers many of these things or realizes to what extent she shaped me, and I don't think I remember many of those things or fully realize to what extent I am me because of her.
We grew up, we're grown up, she has a French-speaking husband and seven-month old baby, I'm on the other end of the world and I share my life with a grey kitty. We're so different in so many ways but so shockingly similar sometimes--people
look at us suspiciously when they first learn we are sisters (tall/skinny/exotic-looking vs. short/stout/standard Chinese-looking, guess who's who), but the confusion goes away once we start talking. I still look up to her tremendously and wouldn't mind at all being just like my big sister when I grow up.
