Sisters

I’ve had this picture for so long, I truly have no idea where it came from. It’s not of anyone I know, or any long lost family member. It didn’t come with a frame that I purchased over the years. But I’ve had it in my home because it always makes me think of my sisters and I growing up.

I have two awesome sisters! They are both incredibly smart and hard working. They have families that love them and that, I’m pretty certain, they would both jump in front of a bullet to protect! I love that we all have these interesting lives that stand alone and yet, are always connected by the thread of family.

We don’t see each other often. It’s not that we live far from each other. Its just that the world has us all going in a million different directions. Raising kids, growing careers and, for two of us anyway, doting on grandbabies takes up 99% of our time. What I find so wonderful is that, no matter how long it’s been between visits or calls or texts, we know that any of us could pick up the phone if we were truly in need and the other two would come running.

I’m the firstborn, so I’m the bossiest of all of us. Surprise, right? I imagine myself as the sister in the middle of this picture, protectively wrapping my arms around the younger ones. Growing up, I tended to think of myself as the surrogate parent. My poor sisters got the brunt of me exploring what it meant to be in charge. Sometimes I did ok, most times though, I just made them cry!

Years and time have a tendency to force people apart. Relationships can get forgotten and ignored if there isn’t anything to keep the parties connected. That feeling of family can come from actual family members but it can also come from those amazing people that cross our paths and make a permanent stamp on our heart. Those friends, like my best friend who now lives in Texas, can feel just as connected as our blood family. Through good times and bad times and boring times, its those connections that keep us moving forward. Encouraging us not to give up. Helping to pick us back up when we’ve had a nasty fall. They are also the connections that laugh with us so hard it hurts. They keep our secrets. And they sometimes know us better than we know ourselves.

I love my sisters. They help keep me grounded. They give me a sense of where I come from. They are the shared keepers of my memories of growing up. And when we’re together, whenever that is, we feel a connection that really can’t be explained. I have their backs and they have mine.

I’m so thankful God put these exact women in my life as my sisters! I can’t imagine anyone else loving me, in spite of my bossiness….oh, and not telling mom and dad about sneaking out in the Pinto late at night!

You know full well as I do the value of sisters’ affections: there is nothing like it in this world.

–  Charlotte Bronte