That Time She Broke Her Shoulder

My sister comes to visit every August from North Carolina. Her daughter (my neice), me and my other sister fight over the time we get with her. I mean, selfishly, she should just stay with me every year and the others can come to us. But that doesn't always happen. In August 2021 we all went to my neice's for the weekend when my sister was in town. She had a beautiful condo in Ballard which is such an amazing walkable city. And my neice is great at planning adventures! The sun was shining, we were laughing and having the best time! I'm talking rooftop champagne toasts, fancy happy hour snacks, doggy play dates and a walking brewery tour. A girls sleepover dream party to be honest! At one point during our brewery tour my neice decided to take her pup home, it was so hot for the pup. We carried on for a bit and somehow decided to break into 2 groups. My neice and her mom. My other sister and I. The plan was to all meet back at my neice's, chill, snack, regroup and decide on where to go for dinner. Oh and I'm sure some champagne in between. When my sister and I got back to the condo we realized we had made it there first. Then my neice called and said that her mom had fallen and that's why they weren't there yet. I won't lie, we thought she was fucking with us. That's what us Norton girls do - mess with each other! We soon realized she was serious but didn't know how serious the fall was. When they finally got to us we got inside, gave my sister some Ibuprofen and put her to bed to rest before dinner while the rest of us had champagne. I wish I was joking about this part. She was so uncomfortable but we really thought she could just sleep it off. Eventaully we realized she was really in a lot of pain, the Ibuprofen wasn't having any effect and we needed to take her seriously. Yikes. Sorry sis! Luckily my neice lived basically across the street from Swedish Hospital Ballard, probably the best medical facility in Washington. So the 4 of us marched over there like the boss bitches we are and explained to them what had happened. Enter Covid. My injured sister could stay but the rest of us had to go. We reluctantly left her there and...you guessed it...headed to dinner. Once we got the call that we could come pick her up we were shocked by the news. She had shattered her shoulder! They were referring her to an orthopedic surgeon in the upcoming days. This is just days before she's supposed to fly home to North Carolina. We felt awful, we had no idea the injury was so extensive! We got her back to my neice's condo and made a plan. She definitely needed to see the surgeon before flying home, explain her geographical situation to him and then decide where to have surgery. So the easy answer was for me to take her home! I wasn't working and had the time to take care of her plus get her to and from the appointment. And off to Grayland we went!

I've lived with my sister before, we raised my daughter together. So this was heaven to me. Reunited! There was only one problem...she was in so much pain and our roles had to be reversed from what we both knew. I had to be the caregiver. This is not in my nature but I felt confident I could step up to this very important role! I got her to the appointment and we got the devastating news of how extensive the surgery would be and that she had a big decision to make. Fly home in her uncomfortable state, have surgery and recover in the comfort of her home. Stay in Washington, have surgery and recover with me. Because we both worked in the medical field our intuition was for her to stay and have surgery at a hospital we knew had the best doctors. But recovering in her own home was of course pulling at her heart strings. She discussed it with her husband and ultimately decided to stay. We scheduled the surgery and headed back to Grayland. I mean, we were both pretty excited for her extended stay, especially with me at the ocean! Surgery day came and was successful. It was a long drive back and a long sleepless couple of nights. She had to sleep on the recliner couch in the living room to keep her in a comfortable supportive position. I can't imagine it was actually comfortable but she didn't complain. We started getting into a routine with the situation at hand. Until the nurse called and said I had to remove the nerve block. Remember, I'm not the caregiver. This role was very foreign to me. I put on a brave face, followed the nurse's instructions and got it done. It was my least favorite day of her extended stay with me! But I thought the worst was over and it was sister party time!

There definitely wasn't a party! My sister was recovering from a very complicated surgery and it took me a few days for this to sink in and find some empathy. I'm not a heartless person. I just am used to her being the caregiver, me being the spoiled brat and us making those roles work in harmony. I was more like a wicked stepmom. Picture an injured Cinderella that isn't sleeping well and can't use her right arm but still being forced to do her chores. That's where we were at. Love conquers all though and I eventually figured out that I could still do the things I was used to doing in my every day life, take care of her as much as she needed (or wanted) and we could find fun things to do together. I washed her hair, drove her to Physical Therapy with a built in lunch date, burned the shit out of her in the shower, improved my cooking skills with her supervision for some fabulous dinners, we napped together, binged some good shows and some mindless series on Netflix and we got lots of time in the sun on the patio. As we always have, we figured it out. And she made huge progress in her recoverty every day! After a few weeks she was ready to start getting out of the house and we started Thirsty Thursdays! We would go to our favorite local wine bar for a glass of wine, then make our way back home with a stop at the pizza place, sit outside in the sun meeting new people, talking and laughing while waiting for our to go pizza for dinner! It was the best tradition that I tried to keep going even after she left me for home. As fall was approaching all the girls came to visit - my daughter, her daughter and our other sister - for an amazing girls weekend which I think was great for both of our souls! The sun was shining, love was brewing and we celebrated my sister's amazing recovery! It was beautiful!

In October it was finally time for her to make the trek home. Her husband came and stayed for a few days, they visited her daughter again and our other sister, making the rounds before flying back to North Carolina. We both cried a lot. We'd gone through separating before but this time seemed more difficult than before. I knew I would see her again in August, or maybe sooner, but my heart still broke. We live so harmoniously together, it's hard to let that go. But we held our heads up high and went back to our lives as we knew them. A little closer than we had been before the shattered shoulder if that was even possible. She's definitely my soul sister. Anyone that can put up with this stubborn, bratty redhead and still love me unconditionaly is absolutely an angel on earth.

The whole story - in a video!