I knocked on my sister’s door after years of estrangement. I’m glad I took the first step

first person

First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide .

I did something recently that I’ve imagined doing for many years. For a long time, whenever I drove past this neighbourhood, I thought about passing close to their front door, just to see if they still lived there. I wondered what it would be like to knock on their door after all these years, but I never did it. I would just keep driving until I thought about something else.

But on that day, something changed. As I was approached that same neighbourhood, I dared myself to do it.

I told myself, “One life. Life is so short. Do it. Imagine the worst thing that can happen and if you can handle that, you’ll be okay.”

I pictured myself knocking