Sisters to Friends

I made my annual trip north this last weekend to spend holiday time with my momma and my sister. It's totally sad that I only see them twice a year. Distance can be a difficult concept to cope with - as I'm also finding out by having my daughter live a couple of states away.

Every December when I go visit we make pillow cases for my family and their's (a family tradition we started about 10-12 years or so ago), share recipes and talk about things in our lives. We just get to enjoy each other's company without the interruption of my children (which are SO delightful but they get to come up for my summer visit).

As we were visiting and laughing and spending quality time together, it dawned on me that my mom must feel the same way I do when I see my adult children interacting as best friends. I got to see a bit of that this Thanksgiving when Brandilyn was here. Her and Brian were laughing and having fun together, her and Danielle were visiting and enjoying each other and everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy each other. In fact, on the last night of Brandilyn's visit, the light from the kitchen was bothering me (my bedroom window and the kitchen window kind of face each other) and I looked at the time. It was the wee hours of the morning and there were my beautiful daughters sitting there just talking. It made me SO grateful.

When I was with my mom and sister, we shared recipes (well, mostly her sharing with me), books we were both into at the moment, ideas and we discussed some deep stuff as well - like the meaning of life or something.

I love my visits and I love my children's visits. Yes, this is truly a beautiful payoff for all the icky crap you go through when your children are going through their amazing teen years.