Grab your sister and head out on an adventure

October 5, 2020
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By Delilah McMasters

Mansfield Record

My sister, Darla, worries we are going to become those sisters who only show up during a crisis or a funeral.

"Y'all always look like y'all are having so much fun! I want to come hang out with y'all!" People always said this to Darla and I, but trust me, they really don't want to. They want us separately, not together. If we are together chances are we are laughing and talking nonstop, ignoring you the whole time. We use to hang out a lot, eating breakfast, sitting on the porch swing, me trying to get her to get in the car and ride over and look at some abandoned house, her refusing to get in the car, me pretending to need something from Dairy Queen, her getting in the car (she will go anywhere for a Peanut Buster Parfait), me pretending to wipe boogers on her and locking the car doors and telling her to just roll with it, let’s go for it, we got all day! It was a good time, maybe more for me than for her. Then I started popping out babies, six of them: Libby (34), Jasmine (27), Mac (26), Nicholas (20), Lila (16) and Izzy (12). And Darla delivered a Prince: Atticus Gregory Harper Upton-Lewis (14). My "just roll with it, let’s go for it" became a mantra, and Darla got smart about not getting in the car with me and my heathens.

We are different, but the same. I irritate, aggravate, make her smile, she does the same for me. We don't look alike. There is some questioning about who her daddy might be, but don't tell her mama. She's smart and I have cleavage. It could be we don't have the same mama too, but don’t tell her daddy. Darla's the life of a party, she keeps a schedule, a list, is involved with her surroundings, a celebrity in her universe and eats healthy. I am none of those things. Most days I'm eating things I shouldn't, barely keep it together, work and fly by the seat of my pants. I've never smoked, drank or experimented with drugs or men. Darla has done all four. I divorced after 26 years of marriage, she finally picked one man after 26 years of trying to decide. She likes tall and skinny and I like older and experienced, we both like highly intelligent. Yet, we know after the men and babies it will be us and a dog she loved so much she stuffed it, hanging out on the porch while she tolerates, disapproves, has an answer for everything and rolls her eyes, and I go along with all of it, and giggle, because really, who wants to slow down Miss BossyBoots once she gets started?

I don't see her often enough, kids, work, life get in the way. I don't talk to her every day, repeat it again: kids, work, life get in the way. When we do see each other within the first 20 minutes she mentions how big my breasts are. It's like she's distracted, can't form words until she acknowledges I have an abundance of cleavage. We have to talk about how I keep them hiked up so high and she has to rub her forehead like there is going to be an accident and I'm going to tip over and she has no idea how she's going to get me balanced back on my feet after all the vodka she had earlier! Then she clues me in on all the things I could have done or should have done to make my life easier and better.

When we do pick up the phone, the conversation starts up where it was left off and always ends with I love you. We keep each other honest, know each other’s secrets and fears, faults and strengths and our natural hair colors. And, yes, maybe we have become those sisters who only show up during a crisis, but I can't think of anyone else I would drive three hours for or who I would ask to drive three hours for me, if something went wrong and we had to burn down a house or knock over a convenient store. And if I die, I know she would be there in the tightest, gaudiest, least appropriate clothes for her age, wailing and crying for me and my babies, and she knows I would do the same for her.

Hey, Miss BossyBoots, I hear Dairy Queen is running a special on Peanut Buster Parfaits, get in the car, maybe we can find a visitation on the way.

Delilah McMasters is a local resident and mom of six. Email her at blessyourheart76063@gmail.com

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Mansfield, Texas, is a booming city, nestled between Fort Worth and Dallas, but with a personality all its own. The city’s 76,247 citizens enjoy an award-winning school district, vibrant economy, historic downtown, prize-winning park system and community focus spread across 37 square miles. The Mansfield Record is dedicated to reporting city and school news, community happenings, police and fire news, business, food and restaurants, parks and recreation, library, historical archives and special events. The city’s only online newspaper launched in September 2020 and will offer introductory advertising rates for the first three months at three different rates.

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