Josephine sat in front of a large plate brimming with lunch treats: a gooey grilled cheese on wheat, chips, fruit and tomato soup. 

Her older sister sat directly across from her. With the same meal. 

Josephine ordered her food after Esme. It was impossible to know, initially, whether she picked it because she craved a grilled cheese or because she wanted to be like her sister. 

But after watching her finish the food, I'm quite sure I know. 

I took Esme and Josephine to the mall yesterday. I needed to get my MacBook checked out. Needed to get the girls new shoes and me new underwear. I wanted time alone with the two of them. 

A trip for "the ladies," I called it. 

Esme grabbed my hand in hers as we walked past the stores. Josephine saw... and grabbed my other. 

Esme hopped on and off the escalators. At one point, she mixed up her feet so badly she flung her body to the railing and held on like a frog struggling to pull itself on to a lilly pad it narrowly missed. Josephine tried to hop on without help too. But fell back on me for safety. 

We talked about a store clerk curling her hair (weird) and bought sale dresses for Easter (score). Josephine chose the same one as Esme. 

When we finally sat down to our meals, I took the seat next to Esme, on the other side of the table from Josephine. It was the perfect spot to watch her. What I saw blew my heart to bits...

Read the rest at Feast After Famine.