Sisterhood

You can pick your friends, but not your family!

Or so the saying goes. Fortunately, I love and have been blessed by a great family and wouldn't want to change them (well . . . maybe a little!). I am lucky to have 2 great sisters.

I have also been blessed with wonderful women friends, many of whom I consider my "chosen sisters." Beth is one of them.

When I was six, new people moved into the house next door. Mom told me she thought they had a little girl about my age. I went over, knocked on the door and Beth's dad answered. I asked, "Can the little girl who lives here come out and play?" The rest is history and a beautiful friendship.

Beth is one year older than me and we went to different grade and middle schools. However, we ended up in the same high school. We share a lot of fun memories from childhood through the present time - kick and can, red light, green light, swimming (and swimming and more swimming), dances, prom, parties weddings, births and deaths. I introduced Beth to her first husband, Jim. I was with her when she found she was pregnant with her first son, Jamie (now almost 30) and was with her shortly after she learned Jim had died. She stuck by me through my wild 20's. We have cried together over broken relationships. We share a love of the water, of beaches, of laughter, and good food. Now we talk about our elderly parents always looking for laughter in the sometimes grim subject. In fact, there isn't much I can't talk to Beth about, or haven't! We are chosen sisters.

Beth has lived in Florida for many years. I haven't been down there in a couple years, but today she stopped over for a little while during a yearly visit to Wisconsin. We talked about meeting in Florida this winter. Sit on the beach, talk away all of our problems and watch the young guys prance by. Sounds good to me.

Beth is the woman who sent one of my dogs to me, Lucy Lou. Today Bethy arrived with Jamie (she also has another son, Tim, currently in the Air Force) and her new dog, Sally. We got a kick out of Gracie and Sally and the contrast between the two dogs. We think Lucy Lou remembers her. Beth laughed at the 3 of them together and said, "Yours, mine and ours!"

Even through we don't live close to each other and can go months without talking, I am not quite sure what I would do without Bethy in my life. I hope I don't have to find out for a long time. There is just too much fun to have and laughter to share.