Girl Time

I have just spent one of the most fun weeks of the summer. My sister and her friend came to visit. We did girl things for a whole week. It was so much fun.

We went to the outlet mall and didn't have to look at men's clothing and I didn't need to feel like I was wasting time looking at women's clothing or shoes. I could browse the book store and not feel like there was any impatient person waiting for me to do something real.

We celebrated Morgan's birthday again. It was really her birthday this time. It was her third birthday party for her first birthday. It's difficult when the grandparents are all scattered. But it does mean lots of chances to put cake on one's head.

We had every intention of going to the ocean and dipping our toes in the salt water which is great fun for fresh water people. However, it was rainy or bad timing or simply not on the agenda until it was too late to go. So we saw the Atlantic Ocean, but didn't step in the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, earlier this year I was sailing on the Pacific Ocean and never really quite touched it, so I think it counts.

We went to a teahouse for lunch. It was great fun doing that. The tearoom was quaint, the rest of the house was three stories of treasures, and best of all, the teas and food were stupendous. We began with our fancy teas, had a small salad with homemade dressings, and then had pasta dishes that came with a side of fruit salad. There were 22 different types of fruit in the fruit salad. The desserts looked fabulous but we had already eaten too much.

And so, we went back to the teahouse the next day for dessert and tea. The desserts were as good as the meal had been and were absolutely huge. There would have been no way that we could have eaten a dessert after eating a lunch that came with a fruit salad that had twenty-two fruits in it.

We browsed books stores and the library. We made lists of authors and books we hadn't yet read so that when we went to the books stores, we would know what was safe to buy. I just hate to buy a book I've already read. I also hate to buy a book out of order when the books are part of a series; I want to read them in order of publication. It was nice to see I was not alone in my lunacy.

We read books in companionable silence. And we talked for hours on end. We shared stories. We shared skills. We shared laughter.

It was so much fun that the idea of Pam and Rose leaving and my life returning to the everyday nothingness that it has become was just too overwhelming. And so, I snuck into the back seat and came back to Ohio with them. We dropped Rose off at home and Joe was so glad to have his wife back.

Now the next plan is to sneak off and share some time with all three sisters together. We should manage to laugh and tell stories. And most importantly, get that sisterly dose of love. That love that springs from and entire lifetime of sharing.

Sisters are one of God's best ideas. I'm so grateful for mine.