Two weeks ago, my mom lost a sister.
This week, my husband lost a brother.
It's no wonder that I'm feeling extra-keen gratitude for my own sibling today.

I have a sister, and I'm raising a pair of sisters — lucky me. 

There is nobody else on the planet — besides my sister — who possesses the mutual background, the same nuanced familial understanding and the singular, very funny but unwritten joke book, as me. It's like we've got encoded chips implanted behind our ears that enable us to just plain "get" each other. And really, is anything as satisfying as being "got"?

So, in gratitude for my sister today — and in honor of siblings everywhere — here are a couple of things:

Mona Simpson's eulogy for her brother, Steve Jobs, which is here.

And here's a pretty swell poem by Lucille Clifton.

Love you, Sissy….