Most girls remember slumber parties when we were young. In my day, we often made the dining room table into a tent. We played Chinese jump rope. Ate junk food. Talked about boys. Maybe toilet papered a few houses? Made prank phone calls. Then, we got older. We grew up. We got jobs. Families. Responsibilities. Slumber parties began to mean something entirely different – sleep!
My sister and I have not lived close to one another our entire adult lives. Sadly, for many years physical distance was not the only distance that separated us.
Several months ago. My sister and I reconnected. We connected in a way much stronger than we have ever been. We connected at the heart. When I wake up each day, the first thing that I do is send my sister a text that says, “Good Morning Sister.” It has kind of become ONE of our many things.
Not that very long ago, I made a trip to visit my sister, her husband, and my father. It had been eight years since we had even seen one another. It had been even longer since we had spent quality time together.
On that trip, I offered to stay at a hotel, but my sister and her husband would not hear of it. Because my dad lives with them, they are rather short on space, so I planned to sleep on the couch. My brother-in-law would not hear of that. Instead, he insisted that my sister and I share the master bedroom and he slept on the couch for four days. I am not sure if he has any idea what a gift his sacrifice was. My sister and I slept in the same bed. We talked into the early morning hours. We remembered. We laughed A LOT. We had a grown-up slumber party. We discovered we are very much alike (except she snores, and I do not 😊.) We also learned that it is entirely possible and also likely that two people can share the same experience and have completely different recollections of it even the color of a house that they both lived in. It does not make either wrong. I remembered the house being red brick. She remembered the white trim. Therefore, the same house was both red and white. It just depends on who is telling the story.
My point in sharing this story is to remind us all that it is never too late until it is. Connecting takes effort but it is worth it. Let all of the STUFF go! Forgive. Forget. Love. Laugh. Go shopping! Pay your parking tickets. Better yet, don’t get parking tickets! Life is so much better shared. We all have said or done things that we wish we hadn’t. Letting those things take up space in our hearts gives the wrong things power. A simple slumber party ERASED years of absence and replaced it with the feeling that this closeness is all that we have ever known.
If someone reaches out to you, know how hard that step was for them. Meet them in the middle with a robe in your hand.
I love you, Dawn. I am so glad that we are sisters and friends...again and for always.
Until Next Time,
C
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