My favorite sister

I'm not sure how many of you have had the great pleasure of having a sister. But if you have, I'm sure that you would agree that while siblings are your best friends, your life partners, your forevers - they can also, at times, be your worst enemy and the biggest pains in the ass.

You have the good moments, when you’re wrapping your bodies so close together to keep warm camping on a cold night, or laughing together about how your dad pronounces 'hippopotamus' in his French accent, or dancing to ABBA in your bedroom, or searching together for Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve.  

You also have the not-so-good moments, when you’re slamming the door in each other’s faces or throwing each other’s clothes in the pool or having a screaming match over a sweater that someone borrowed without asking.

You have the highs & the lows, the ups & the downs, but underneath it all there is such an extraordinary and unconditional bond. This love, this bond, is what makes us feel every emotion for each other so deeply—whether it’s joy, anger, sadness, or something in between.

When you’ve had a front row seat to someone’s life for 22 years, it’s hard to unpack all the memories and moments from one another.

There was the time when Maya was two and had the brilliant idea to take a Curious George puzzle box, put it on the poor school guinea pig we were babysitting, and sit on it. It died two days later—and unfortunately the pet store didn’t have an exact lookalike to replace it.

Or those times we would climb into our parents’ duvet cover and pretend we were a family of rabbits, or wear life jackets like diapers and float down the river together, or build a snow ‘restaurant’ next to our cabin that served snow sugar, snowballs, and anything else that can be made from snow.

Even though I was older, I looked up to Maya. She loved and she lived so deeply and so passionately. She fiercely stood up for what she believed in (though if you ask me her beliefs were at times controversial…). She was fearless, compassionate, and loyal, in the way that many of us try to be but never quite get there. She was chef extraordinaire and connoisseur of so much. Above all, she saw a beauty in the world, and lived in her own unique wonderland.  She had an acute awareness of everything around her and as a result she found miracles in what most would consider mundane. Rocks, mushroom, seashells, flowers, sand drip castles—the list goes on.

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said something that I think perfectly encapsulates the essence of Maya.

“Around us, life bursts with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life's daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.”

Maya was Maya because of her awareness, her compassion, and her curiosity for the world around her. Let us continue to carry Maya with us, to notice the miracles in both the mundane and the extraordinary. In the grasses we step on, the rivers we swim in, and the mountains we climb.  

Forever and always,

Zozo