If you have been following my posts, or you know my family, then you know that I have three sisters.  Jeanette Waters, the Matriarch, of course, you know, from my tribute to her.  Today, though, I want to uplift my other two sisters, Cheryl, and Wanda.

People who know my sisters don’t think of Cheryl as a fighter.  But she is the original fighter among the Waters sisters.  Cheryl was a preemie, not expected to live.  When she pulled through, the doctors called her their “miracle baby.”  Cheryl is my “Irish twin,” though not in the strict sense, in that we were born in different years.  But for four months out of the year, we are the same age. As kids, during this time, we had to explain to adults who asked our age that we were not twins, that we have the same mother and father.

Cheryl, I think, embodies our mother.  Jeanette says she’s the best person she knows, so uncharacteristically Gemini.  Well, Jeanette, Cheryl should have entered the world in September, not June.  This explains your sentiments.  Jeanette can get astrological reading the signs and the stars in the sky.  Maybe, just maybe, this explains why Cheryl is not a “typical” Gemini.

Wanda, the youngest, the smallest and the shortest of my sisters, is a fighter.  Let’s say she’s the feminine version of Napoleon.  Mommy would say, “Something is wrong with you!  You’re always fighting.”  (Black women have always had to fight, for everything, especially their dignity and respect, in these here United States.)  Actually, Wanda is like a ninja, not Napoleon.  In fact, let me give my baby sister an African attribute.  Wanda is like Nzinga Mbande, who was Queen of the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba.  Among other things, Nzinga was a military strategist, a fighter.  For the record, many of Wanda’s fights were in defense of our baby brother.  I think Whitney, not Houston, learned this, and that anyone who gave him any problems, he knew he could send Wanda after them.  Whitney and I could not have three better sisters.  They have always had our back because we are family!

Remember when downloading ringtones was all the rage?  My sisters don’t know this, but on my phone they all had the same ringtone, Sister Sledge’s title song from their 1979 album, “We Are Family.”

We are family

I got all my sisters with me

We are family

Get up everybody and sing

Everyone can see we’re together

As we walk on by

(And) and we fly just like birds of a feather

I won’t tell no lie

All of the people around us they say

Can they be that close

Just let me state for the record

We’re giving love in a family dose

We are family (hey, y’all)

I got all my sisters with me