A Clumsy Tribute

I've been thinking a lot this week. Perhaps it's because I've been getting enough sleep - the kids did not want to be tied to the bed post after all - baking with the kids while listening to Along The Shores Of Plum Creek, and just overall relaxing. Perhaps it's because it's the end of one year and I always get this way when one year ends and a new year begins.

I'm feeling very thankful. I'm surrounded by wonderful people I love and who love me. I've got a wonderful church. I'm blessed to have a great pastor, along with a pastor's wife who is a class act. I've got life long friends.

And obviously, most important of all - besides Jesus - is my own husband and children.

However, this post is not about them.

I've had a couple of discussions recently that has made me realize how grateful I am to have the two best sisters in the world. We couldn't be more different really. We disagree strongly on several things. But I've realized that it has been a long, long time since any of us have had an argument that we didn't "fix" in short order.

We didn't grow up particularly close. We fought hard. I don't remember trusting many secrets to them and they didn't entrust theirs to me. However, we were always loyal to each other. We celebrated each other's victories. If any of us were jealous of the other, we kept it to ourselves and did not let it spoil the other's special moments. We were not in competition with each other.

Now, thirty-some-odd years later, we are reaping the benefits. Our childhood fighting days are over. We realize how precious our close-knit "sisterhood" is. We cry with each other. We laugh hard with each other. We sincerely rejoice for each other. There are no petty grievances or jealousies.

We do tell each other some of our secrets. Because we can trust them to each other.

To you, Laura, and to you, Lana, I want to say that I love you and I'm glad that God placed you both in my life.

Because, like it or not, you're stuck with me.