Staff writer Prana Maldonado Collins and younger sisters Lyla Maldonado Wells (left) and Flora Maldonado Wells (right) pose for a picture on Sept. 28. The twins love to take goofy pictures, especially Lyla. “I just like to make silly faces because it is funny and I like it,” Lyla said. Photo by Prana Maldonado Collins.
By PRANA MALDONADO COLLINS – Staff Writer
ODYSSEY Newsmagazine news staffer Prana Maldonado Collins shares how having twin half-sisters has changed her life.
Ringing in my ears, the silence enveloped me within my own house. Puzzled, I glanced at my mom when the realization hit me — “Oh, it’s Wednesday!”
Having half-sisters may be one of the most difficult things to explain to someone who has an intact family.
Many people don’t understand how broken a family can be, even if it’s just between different parents.
There are more titles than step-parents and stepbrothers and stepsisters. What happens if one parent has a child with another person? That is what a half-sibling is. I share my mother with my half-sisters, Flora and Lyla.
By definition, we are only half-related, but they will always carry the full title of sister.
The hardest part of having a broken family is that I don’t see the girls as much as I would like. We don’t get to celebrate every holiday and share every memory together.
Half of the Christmases, Thanksgivings and birthdays, they spend away from me, which prevents us from creating the long-lasting memories that we should have before I leave for college.
Every Wednesday afternoon, they visit their dad’s house for a few hours. Every Wednesday, I walk into the house after school surprised when I am not greeted at the door by two squealing, chunky four year olds.
Instead, I am met by silence.
Even though they constantly get into my stuff, wake me up at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and repeatedly call my name over and over again with ear-piercing shrieks, being away from them has shown me that their chaos is better than the silence. Being away from them has helped me realize that the saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” is true.
Though we may be split between two different homes and fathers, the bond we have as sisters will never be broken.
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