Yang Jiqun: Sisterhood - Feelings during illness, Part 3

Yang Jiqun: Sisterhood - Feelings during illness, Part 3 I wrote "feeling during illness" for the third time, but this time I added "sisters..."

Yang Jiqun: Sisterhood - Feelings during illness, Part 3 I wrote "Feelings during illness" for the third time, but this time I added the words "sisterhood". "Blood is thicker than water" is often said, and it has been experienced by many people personally. Various coincidental factors: It was when my sister came from her hometown in China to visit her daughter's family in Phoenix, and when the couple returned from traveling to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and other places, and were about to go to Alaska, the doctor decided to perform a fourth surgery on me (it was really helpless). My dear sister moved into my daughter's home to take care of me after the surgery. My sister is only two years younger than me. Because we are close in age, we have always been inseparable whether we were in school or at home. Until the 1950s and 1960s, due to our poor family, she and I took on the responsibility of raising younger siblings at the same time. We seemed to have a division of labor but not completely. To be clear, at that time, I mainly took care of my younger brother’s daily needs from high school to college, and occasionally gave some money and food stamps to our mother, who was teaching under extremely difficult conditions in the mountainous area. My fourth sister took care of the fifth sister’s schooling and life. In short, we divided the labor and cooperated to maintain this family with many sisters and a difficult family. Although the family was suffering, the sister was still alive. My siblings supported and encouraged each other, and our mutual love bound us together. At that time, I was in Beijing, and my sister was in my hometown. My siblings and I corresponded frequently, with an average of one letter a week. Until now, she and I have each retained some of the letters. Decades have passed, and the youngest sister among us is now sixty-six years old, and my fourth sister and I have grown up. We all have our own families, and we all have children and grandchildren, but our sisterly love and sibling love still remain the same as when we were teenagers and as adults. After my surgery, my fourth sister kept busy in front of my hospital bed, bringing me tea and water, helping me to go to the bathroom, and cooking me home-cooked meals. When late at night came and everyone in the family fell asleep, she would always open my door gently two or three times a night to see how I was sleeping. After the operation, my lower right leg was swollen and painful and I couldn't sleep. Every time she came in to see me, I would close my eyes and pretend to be asleep to prevent her from worrying. When I saw her small figure busying for me, I burst into tears. I thought that the most precious things in the world are not money and material things. The most precious things are family, friendship and affection. The sincere treatment between people and friends. The arrival of my sister made her and I recall the ups and downs we had gone through for more than half a century. It was not easy for us to reach this day together. Only the word "Cherish" can describe our feelings. Before the hospital bed, we also talked about the younger generation. They have caught up with the good times. Society and families have given them enough space to develop their talents. However, what we often see is that some young people do not cherish time, do not work hard, do not strive for progress, and do not value friendship as much as our generation. They will lose their precious light. They waste their youth by going to bars, dancing, etc. You know how envious we old people are that they can grow up in today's era! They (she) have not experienced the difficult mental journey that our generation has gone through. This may be what people often call the "generation gap"! It's too far. Patients, especially elderly patients, always like to think wildly. When we get together with my sister, we forget about the pain. However, the reunion is always short-lived, and separation is forever. She will soon end her trip to the United States, and we will all go back to our own lives! This is reality!