I'm not very good at transitions. So, I am having trouble with my sister's youngest finishing elementary school. That's because come fall my sister and I won't be walking to school together. For the last eight years, I've driven from my house (6 blocks away) and she and I have walked our kids to school.

We don't have a perfect track record. There have been after school classes, bike rides, David wanting to play after school for an hour when Ariana wanted to go home that have broken our rhythm. But basically, I touch base with my sister twice a day, every day.

Now, of course, we have constant Bat Mitzvah details to discuss, but we never run out of things to talk about--bell times and the Seattle school board's recalcitrance, the new house being built down the alley, who's buying the sushi for lunch this week, how to curtail David spitting on his way to school, how to get Rose to walk faster on the way home, the great swatches of lavender in the path that lead to swarms of bees, what color school t-shirt to buy, where to park the car when we drive the kids to swim lessons, white women pretending to be black women, black men dying, war, my new job, her new job, the Huskies, how to make sure David stops his bike before he skids into Aurora and which of our friends have something to say about it, what hurts, what the doctor said, sushi, always good to talk about sushi.

I have confidence we will create new patterns that will keep us as up to date. The Tuesday night dinner isn't going anywhere for instance. I know I am incredibly lucky to live so close to my sister and have such a close relationship with her, but I'm not interested in anything changing. If we have to stick a brick on our kids' heads to keep them from growing up, so be it.