I have two sisters and we're all very close.  Now.  We'll call them Prue and Piper, and not just because my eldest sister bore a striking resemblance in temperament to Shannen Doherty.  (She's a lovely person now, need that disclaimer in there.)  Piper on the other hand decided she was my sister mom from the day they brought be home and so we've always been really close.

They are Irish twins and both over a decade older than I - they and our brother are all < 4 yrs apart.  I showed up late, as usual.

So last year sometime Piper sends me this email that there is this show on TV, Almost Royal, that I just have to watch.  I'm not a big TV watcher so didn't get to it right away and every day she's emailing me asking if I'd seen it.  And it's not even the type of show shed normally watch.  So totally unlike her to be this dog on a bone about anything.  Finally sit down to binge watch on OnDemand and after the first episode I text her that it was funny, but what was it she wanted me to see?

She's so adamant that the female lead looks so much like me they she and my bil couldn't believe it and and she called Prue and our brother and made them watch and they totally agree and how can I not see it?!  and then she's pointing out specific scenes where she's making the same face I make...and really disappointed that I didn't see it.  At all.  Showed my kids who then also thought their aunts and uncles had lost their minds.

apparently it's not merely physical but its hysterical how she's so spoiled and self absorbed and how she makes faces at everything that displeases here.  'Like a parody of you!  Said with love!"  Tacking said with love on to the end of a sentence doesn't mitigate the insult, btw.  

We couldn't see it because apparently the kids and I live in reality where we know I'm pushing 50 and I haven't seen the inside of a size 2 in more years than I'm going to admit to you people.

So I gently ask Piper if senility is setting in and is she aware that it's 2015 and that its been years since my cosmetic goals changed from 'become as beautiful as possible' to 'try to look good for my age without medical intervention.'

She got really quiet (and I was starting to worry that she was mad about the senility crack - touchiness is a family trait) and said, "that's how I see you.  You're my young and beautiful baby sister and that's who you are to me."  I snarked that it must be a shock everytime we get together, and she told me to shush.  She said what we look like is far less about hair color or signs of aging and what she sees is the same smirky expressions I've been making since I was a toddler, our brother's grin and how much he looks like Daddy, Prue's perfect smile and face which is a unique combination of Mom's beauty and Dad's mannerisms.  And that our eyes are the same...she says whatever age is there she doesn't see because she just sees family.

i guess when you love someone you don't just see what they look like, but you see who they are.  

which was really a beautiful way to put it and made me think.  When I think of them I don't pull up the last time I saw them and calibrate for age...it doesn't mean we can't see...its just that there is more to see than the superficial when you're talking about faces you've seen change for your whole lives.

Made me think of Miss Mamie and Miss Emily on the Waltons.  I bet they kept each other frozen in time, too.

So apparently this show is back for another season and I'm being required to watch it again and it may make her all warm and nostalgic but it just makes me feel like I'm about 100 years old.  But when she tells me to do something I still do it, even if I don't want to.  But I will complain about it and make smirky faces while doing so because apparently that's who I am.