For The First Time In Forever
/My sister Faith is nine years younger than me. As you can imagine, it has always been a little hard to bond with her.
It was different with my dad. He tried to understand where I was coming from, and listened to me. I tried to do the same for him.
However, because Faith was so young, we couldn't do that. She didn’t remember or understand some of the things we talked about. She was always changing and growing. It was hard to stay on the same page with her.
Despite this, I wanted us to be friends. I wanted to be close, unlike all the other siblings I knew. It seemed for a while that would never happen. So I used something I hoped would work.
When Wicked came to the NAC, I decided to see it with my stepmother Lorraine, Faith and myself. It was great. It gave us wonderful memories, and my stepmother and I found something we both enjoyed.
Unfortunately, it did not help Faith and me. We were as distant as before.
I became disheartened. I gave up, deciding to wait until she was older to get to know her again.
Then, the movie Frozen hit theatres.
(I know animated Disney movies aren’t necessarily musicals…except when they totally are. Musicals theatre is defined as, “a play or movie in which singing and dancing play an essential part.” And I would say Disney animated movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin would constitute as such.)
The fact that Frozen was so popular and that it was about sisters drew me in. So, we went to see it in theatres together.
It was, of course, amazing. For months we raved about it. We sang the soundtrack repeatedly, together and apart.
Imagine your young children/family members singing this loudly, proudly and terribly around 10 times a week. That's what my poor parents went through for MONTHS.
It quickly became important for our relationship. When she got upset, we used the song lyrics (like ‘Do You Want To Build a Snowman?’) to communicate. When we were doing crafts, we’d sing "Let It Go" together. We constantly debated who was Elsa and who was Anna. It revealed so much to me about her, and I think it revealed a little about me to her too.
We developed a friendship from that, and now, we’re closer then ever. We’re even considering volunteering together.
Thankfully, we were able to fix things, hand in hand.
ASHLEY O'NEIL
Student. Writer. Likes to rave, rant and cry about television shows. Sings popular show-tunes loudly and happily. Has a huge family and a huge book collection. Is trying to find her way in the writing world, and in the world in general.
