The ties that bind

Yesterday was my nephew's 5th birthday party.  I arrived with the requested Wall-E birthday cake, a cake I refused to scar with any candles.  I am sure that he will discuss that with his therapist eventually, but oh well.  The real disaster occurred before I got there.  My sister and my mother may have had it out "Jerry Springer" style in the front yard.  So, my sister has written off my mom.  (And for those of you counting, that is three for three of my mothers children who are no longer speaking to her - unless she has more kids that I don't know about, in which case, she doesn't speak to them either anyway).  

Which leaves me talking to my grandmother for half an hour trying to explain why my sister is the way the is.  And the only real thing I could come up with was the fact that she is my mother's daughter.  

But why is she 24 and divorced with one child and a broken engagement?  my grandmother wants to know.  Hmmm, well, at 25, my mother was 8 months pregnant with me and was marrying a guy not my father, and it was her fifth marriage.  

I spent my entire life fighting to not become my mother that I never thought to watch out for my sister.  She is my mother, and I don't know if I can save her.  And even if I could, I'm not sure how to begin.  

This is my lot in life.  To care for others.  My sister.  My other sister.  My mom.  My husband's mom.