Christmas

My god, the patience my older child has for her little sister. Marlo is constantly barking at her, bossing her around, telling her she’s doing it wrong. In turn, Leta shrugs or rolls her eyes or says, “Marlo, that’s not nice.” She takes it all in stride. This morning Marlo was barking orders at me when Leta interrupted her and said, “MARLO. Ask nicely. Always say, ‘Please.'” Leta has a sense of responsibility for her, and I am so fortunate for that because Marlo feels no responsibility whatsoever.

These girls are everything to me, and earlier when Leta helped Marlo put her coat on, when she pulled Marlo’s hair back so that it wouldn’t get caught in the zipper, I was reminded that they are everything to each other.