the idea: when waving goodbye, lift one leg, put your hands facing out by your ears, and wiggle your fingers.

I honestly have no idea how this started.  It’s one of those family traditions that you just do without thinking about it.  If I had to try, I’d say that it was some random weird-on-purpose things that my sister came up with when she was a teenager.  But that’s just a guess.

Over the past five to seven years there have been countless times when one of my family members will do this wave.  It only happens on my mom’s side, but between my sister, my mom, my step brother, and myself, that’s enough.  It adds the sweet part to the bittersweetness of goodbyes and is particularly poignant this time.

For years when my sister and I did this, or whenever we said goodbye or even anything at all, it was with a grudging combination of dislike, sibling love, and rivalry.  Only in the past two years has that really started to go away.  But now, now that we’re finally good friends as well as sisters, it’s time to say goodbye again.  A week from today my sister will be on a plane heading for Japan and it will be at least a year before I see her again.

Honestly, I haven’t dealt with this yet.  I’m sure at some point in the weeks after she’s gone the fact that she will not just be driving up from Connecticut to see me will hit me.  But for now, the first step was out traditional picture under whatever tree is in front of our house, saying good bye in our specific family way.