Sistering

My sisters have been here. We had non-stop fun for almost a week. We thought of a new word to describe the activity - sistering. To spend time with one’s sisters – visiting, supporting, traveling, laughing, reminiscing, cooking, etc.

There are four local sisters (and a local brother), one Montana sister, and one we call the faraway sister who lives in Maryland.

We spent a day at each one of our local homes. My house was the first day where we got the first wave of visiting underway. At brother Rich’s we talked about his service in Vietnam and watched California quail feed on the lawn at dusk. Merle’s day featured a wagon ride with the Clydesdales, Honey and Liz. Kit fed us roast pork by candlelight. On Becky’s day (she lives on the ranch where we grew up) we visited our ancestral home at dusk and approved our niece’s remodel of our own childhood home next door.

We pulled out Mom’s photo albums and had a great time reminiscing. We dug out some hand made vintage clothing, Becky and Donna’s wedding dresses, Janene’s maid-of-honor dress and a prom dress or two. We laughed and carried on about fabric and bygone styles. We marveled at how Mom sewed four dresses in the two-weeks AFTER our house burned down in May 1969 and BEFORE Janene got married in June of that same summer. Whose sewing machine did she borrow? She didn’t even have a kitchen and with seven kids to manage, how did she pull it off?

We argued back and forth about who was who in some of the photos. Becky can usually figure it out, but even she was stumped by the person in the coonskin hat helping clean up on the morning after our house burned down. He/she is leaning over, examining one of the many fire damaged items that were strewn across the lawn. Before our discussion was over, some of the sisters even second-guessed that it was a coonskin hat after all! It was.  

I know outsiders see us and all the ways we're alike. I see our differences. We live varied lives. We have different opinions and different challenges. We have the same history, but remember different details about the same events. We’re on the other side of lots of life’s decisions. We've had our share of missteps and disappointments, and have learned to find beauty in the imperfections that make up our lives. For some reason I’m reminded of the lines of a poem Donna sent me back when I got divorced from my first husband. It's by Veronica Shoftsall and the passage I'm thinking of goes, "So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to leave you flowers." It's a grown-up way of looking at happiness, and grown ups we are.   

six sisters plus Howdy and Cole