When I was born, my parents and I (I'm the oldest) lived in a two-flat on the north side of Chicago. Our upstairs neighbor was my dad's sister, her husband, and their two daughters. One daughter is my age and the other is two years older. My mom went back to work very soon after I was born, and my aunt, who didn't work, would take care of me and her two daughters during the day. Obviously, this made my cousins and I as close as can be. They were truly like my sisters and we were inseparable. My brother was born shortly before my 5th birthday and it was time for them to move to a bigger home, so we all moved out of that two-flat. We moved about 5 miles apart from each other so we still saw each other all the time. During the summers when I was in grade school and my mom was working, our grandmother would come over to babysit my brother and I and my cousins would come along to play. We always had such an awesome time together, starting our own band and making up dances to every single song on the Spice Girls CDs. So many great memories. Flash forward to the present, we are all still close but only see each other a few times a year due to our busy lives.
Today, I found out that the older sister may have some very scary medical issues. She has been dealing with some minor issues for the past few years, but with the latest flare-up, and how rapidly its become a problem, they are thinking it might be cancer. Latest news I have heard is that they have pushed up a surgery that was supposed to take place in late November up to next Tuesday so they can figure out what's going on.
I am so worried for my cousin. She is so important to me, as she has always been like my sister (and is our Panhellenic sister--she is an AST
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Obviously all I can do right now is pray hard and have faith for the best outcome. I would sincerely appreciate any prayers or good thoughts for her, the surgery and for a positive outcome.