Phoblography: 'Family'

Finally! Back to the Phoblographies. See the first one for an explanation of what the heck the series is all about.

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but Black people tend to have a lot of "cousins". "Cousins" are people or families that have been around yours so long, sometimes for generations, that everyone swears they must be related somehow and only extensive DNA testing could prove otherwise. Thanks to that phenomenon, I'm "related" to half of Columbus, Ohio.

Anyway, along with a plethora of "cousins", I also have a three extra "siblings". These are my three best friends, who've been in my life so long I can hardly remember life without them and don't particularly care to. I share a bond with each of them that has transcended time, space, and everything else life has thrown at us.

The first of these is my sister, Nic. Nic and I met sophomore year of high school, but didn't really get close until Freshman year of undergrad. We both ended up at the same college, in the same dorm, just one hall apart. The rest is history. But not regular history, a John Waters or Christopher Guest sort of history.

Thinking about it now, it's hard to describe what makes her so special, but she's pretty darn amazing. She, along with my other sister who you'll meet later, is one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. We were basically inseparable for most of college, and were often linked romantically in the Kenyon Rumor Mill. I secretly didn't mind, since the rumors upped my stock in the dating pool. However, I did set the record straight when asked. She is my sister, after all.

Nic is smart and classy and cultured. She's more stylish than Carrie Bradshaw and can cook Rachel Ray under her butcher block island any day of the week. She's oddly dichotomous in that she's admittedly anti-social, but can fit into any social situation and charm the pants off anyone (a superpower that she's been known to use for both good and evil). She's also the consummate pessimist, but never fails to make me insanely happy.

She's got a great sense of humor: sometimes intelligent, sometimes raunchy, always hilarious. She's adventurous in love, travel, and cuisine, but otherwise plays it pretty safe. She was single-handedly responsible for ushering me into my college music phase, by exposing me to both high quality indie and complaint rock, and highly questionable pop and techno.

Nic is one of the few people I can talk to everyday and never run out of things to talk about. I could live entirely vicariously through her and still go to bed every night feeling like I'd accomplished something. She's led several fascinating lives.

These days she's living the domestic dream with her husband - the man I'd always prayed she'd find - and her amazing daughter, Mia. Even though I have a hard time picturing her as anything but my crazy sister, seeing her now, it almost seems she was born to be a wife and mother.