Martine - Dauntless Diva - My Sister

Just a musing on my younger sister, Martine, and her impact on my life. There are eight siblings in my family, I fall third oldest, Martine, second from youngest. There is seven years between us, and as you can imagine, this left quite a considerable gap in our relationship. She was the pain-in-my-butt sister, always “in the way” and if I didn’t prep her with plenty of threats in time, she was our “mole” to mom! What I failed to recognize out of my teenage intolerance of her, was that she really adored me, wanted to follow me in most things, and just had the innate desire we all do - to belong.


Martine is one of those people who is impenetrable in Spirit. No matter what occurs in life, she thinks the best of the situation, the people, the circumstances. She was like that as a girl, she’s even more like that now. She would sing all the time, sing in the bathroom, sing over cooking dinner, sing getting ready for bed. No wonder she loves opera, and she’s good at it because she was in training all those years!

She always enjoyed everything so much – riding in the “bus” of a van as kids, crowded, so many different moods at play. “Oh, what a lovely day to be going to the mountains!” she would state, breaking into song for all of us to hear. Having lunch during a hot, dry day of homeschooling, “Oh, this tastes sooo delicious!” (Peanut butter and jelly.) Her favorite words, “marvelous,” “lovely,” and “wonderful.” The sky was always blue, the sun always shining to Martine.

Despite her contagious joy, I was a bully to her for years, waving her unimportant self off with my “dominant” hand, ignoring her pleas for attention and value, and generally in a state of annoyance toward her for most of her first eleven years. Then, after I left home, starting my own family at the ripe young age of eighteen, I softened. Towards her free and youthful Spirit, innocent wide eyes, and cup-half-full outlook. Not only did she forgive my roughness with her tender-heart, she pretended (or unbelievably really did not hold grudges!) all those mean things I said, or rude ways I treated her. That my critical spirit hadn’t really impacted her. Whatever the case, we don’t talk about it. We’ve had many sister-to-sister talks since, and she is always supportive of my dreams (some faded as they are) and life happenings. I worry for her, because she is much too innocent for this harsh world we live in. She is an adult though. Wiser for her hardships, hopeful in her sufferings. I am proud of her, a writer, an opera singer, an actress, a model, a beautiful young woman who lives life in joy, compassion, hope and truth. She is a victim magnet because she is an over comer. They want to feed off her, learn from her, break into the secret of her inner strength that shines like a beacon in a wanting world.

If you would like a taste of the inspiration this young woman has to offer, check her out on her website at dauntlessdiva.com. May she continue in her path of positivity, growing every day into the purposeful woman she loves to be.

I love you Sis, and I’m glad you’re in my life!