Already Missing Daisy

One-half of the dining room table is covered with Daisy clothing. A neatly laid line of Daisy shoes sits underneath the table edge. In less than 24 hours, all of that stuff, and Daisy too, will be in the Dominican Republic. Daisy, who wants to be a nurse, will spend seven weeks in the half-island nation living with a host family and taking classes in Spanish medical terminology and public health. Already I miss her. She is not gone until tomorrow, but I feel the void creeping in. No Daisy sleeping on the sofa five minutes into a t.v. show she just had to watch. No Daisy drinking all the milk. No Daisy blocking my car with hers or calling me to come back to her room to see for myself how cute Cracker her cat looks as he sleeps. I think Big Guy feels the same. He has given Daisy lots of advice today, telling her everything at least twice. This D.R. trip is a big deal, especially as Daisy is our No. 1 Baby. The parent part of me misses her even when she is only 10 miles away working in Chesterfield. Birdie is less sentimentally attached to her sister. She is a bit fed up with sharing the bathroom. But I know she will miss Daisy when she isn't here to split mowing the lawn or help take out the trash. From experience, I know sibling love is a bit self-serving. But that is o.k.  Daisy will miss Birdie in the same way--when there's a spider to be killed or clothes to be borrowed.