I recently spent a week with my sister in Grand Cayman. We have an old cottage, and as we like to say, it has character. My sister and I do this trip every year, and every year at the end of the week, I’m left with a mix of wonder and nostalgia.

Typically, our week begins with offering each other unsolicited advise about our respective lives; what to eat, what not to eat. What I think she should do about her brown spots, what she thinks I should do about my facial hair. Then we turn up the heat and discuss our husbands and children. The talk eventually circles around to our mother…which is when I pour us another glass of wine. We never get to the bottom of our childhood, but it doesn’t stop us from trying.

The good news is–no one knows you like your sister. The bad news is–no one knows you like your sister.

One day I was complaining about the effort required to close our sliding glass doors. My sister asked if I had any bar soap. I dug under the sink and found an old bar, which she then rubbed into the rusted runnels of the doors. The doors glided like new.

The next day I commented on our cloudy plastic glasses. She rummaged through the cupboard, produced the vinegar, and then proceeded to wash the glasses with the vinegar–they sparkled with new life.

The week we had together was a good reminder that we already have all the essentials we need in our homes. Like bar soap, vinegar, family, and sisters.