Last summer, I had an acute case of bronchitis. I was downright bummed. Summer for me meant sun, sand, sea.a gazillion trips to the mall or to my friends' houses, or to another province. I was supposed to exhaust every excess fat on my calves, thighs and belly to hours and hours of fun. Instead I was stuck in the house, stuck with bronchitis.

I didn't have a night's worth of sleep since my cough attacks chose to antagonize the peaceful slumber of the entire household.

My sister, a sub-zero in the sensitivity department, would grumble about people not having enough sleep and that I should take dear old doggie's job.

I wanted to cut off her oxygen supply. Bummer. I didn't even have the voice to put her to place, only an ancient queen's glare which, unfortunately, didn't work.

Thank God for the good doctor. The expensive medicine he prescribed made its worth and soon my bout with bronchitis was over.sadly, so did summer.

Once again my lungs were pumped up for cleaning duty. While doing my room, I accidentally nudged a notebook from my cluttered desk (sis was always a human tornado). I recognized the all too familiar carefree scribbles revealing a prayer for me to be well again because it hurt seeing me suffer like that.

A tear dropped from my eyes- okay, okay. So the Niagara was in town. Who would know the brat felt that way about me? She, who had lived to contradict me, who had continuously stretched my patience to the limit. It was like she had grown a new head. The little weirdo was so beyond me. But this I finally know- my sis does care about me.

She had done the sweetest thing in my life without letting me know it. She could have rubbed it to my face and proclaimed it to the world to make me look like an ungrateful beast. But she didn't do any of those things.

Sometimes, the most unthinkable of persons turn out to be the ones who truly care for us. They just find it awkward to be obvious. They don't need an audience to boost their ego because their kindness is not for show. They are merely content that we are well.

Most of the time, we judge people by the way they treat us and by how they make us feel. We don't bother to dig dipper, to skim below the surface of Jack or Jill. We never can know what is hidden in the flesh because we see only what our eyes expect to see, because we see only what they want us to see.

To little sis who would bet a week's allowance to hear me say, thank you. You may get goose bumps as I am getting while writing this, but it comes from my heart.

About the Author
Sheryl is a junior editor of publishing company CannonCreek Asia Inc., currently dealing with business news, and is a contributor to the Sun Star Daily Cebu. A journalism graduate, she writes short stories, poetry, essays and few novels.