When I was around six years old I once covered my younger sister in Vicks Vaporub, not because she was ill, just for kicks! Yeah….she’s lucky I didn’t get it in her eyes. Mum woke up to the strong eucalyptus scent one morning. I got a spanking and mum spent hours trying to wash the thick layer of persistent grime off her.
Then there was that other time where I convinced Lisa that our house was haunted and she couldn’t sleep at night. Cruel I know, but I was a little cow I couldn’t help it! The older I got, it seemed as though Lisa thought I was cool, so I’d realise she used to try to catch up and act in similar ways. In the videos my dad shot of us while growing up, I’d always hog the camera in typical fashion. Well there was more of me back then, hehe I was a plump one and Lisa would always be my side kick. There was the Magic Show where I was obviously the magician and Lisa was my assistant, then there was that infamous ‘Rescue 911’, which my father loaned to a popular local TV show, that aired it a couple of years back (Yikes!) where I played William Shattner and my sister, the victim.
During our ‘Disney World’ holiday back in the 90s I was getting my groove on at this club in Pleasure Island dancing away in my pink cycling shorts and Joe Bloggs T-shirt (OMG! Why didn’t anyone stop me? lol) and the singer came down to the audience and told me to get on stage with her. I thought I’d made it Big time!
(again…OMG!) Anyways I got on the stage and started doing the ‘running man’ which some of you may remember was a ‘big’ move at the time. (Cringe!)
When the singer had had enough of me sabotaging her stage, she walked me down the stairs and Lisa was there wide eyed, visibly impressed! However, times soon changed and I noticed that Lisa started to get annoyed when teachers would ask if she was my sister. She would often reply, “No I’m not Ira’s sister I’m Lisa.”
I guess she’d had enough of me being the one running the show and her following. It was her time to go solo. And so the teenage years began. The arguments were now about clothes and not about which cartoon to watch. The name calling got more vicious and turned into hissing, lest our mother should hear us! And I concentrated on my piano, drama and singing and Lisa on her dancing. We were like chalk and cheese. I was the plump loud singer at school and she was the slender, reserved ballerina. She wrote to Father Christmas for dolls and particular brands, I asked him for keyboards and Cds.
Last year, Lisa went to Perth to become a pilot. The distance was a killer but somehow it also made us closer. We’d talk regularly online and give each other advice about everything from studying, to eating healthily, to men. I’d love hearing about her experiences and the new friends she’d made. Sometimes when we had our webcam on, we’d have dance offs to ridiculous music. It’s amazing how much entertainment we’d come up with. Now after a year and a half she’s back from Oz. Not too long a time apart, you may be thinking. You may be right but it was long enough to shed a tear at the airport on her return.
We still have our differences and while she’s donning pearls, I’m wearing chunky chains and skulls and bones. I guess Lisa will still look at me as if I’m an alien when I turn up in pink leopard leggings and when I relate my antics to her after a night out, she’ll often shake her head and tell me that I’m mad, but we’ll always have those long chats that last till the early hours of the morning, the uncontrollable laughing fits, the hilarious dance offs, but above all the love that only sisters share and that is priceless!