Sunday, November 22, 2015

Sister Meetings

I came home from my last work trip for 2015 to find that estrogen overload had hit the house.  The girls were super moody with each other and Charley, who has an incredible amount of patience, said I am not sure I can handle one more discussion with the girls about their attitudes.  He tagged out and I tagged in as the lead to what we call episode #579 of Emotion Overload: Teen Edition.  We tried to do some grocery shopping and made it about 55 minutes before the text messages started flowing in from two of the teenagers who had each decided that the other one was being irrational.  Off and on throughout the day the "let's be kind" reminders became more and more frequent but I was determined not to let them wear me down.  At about 11:30 pm I decided it was time to end the episode, but not just for the night.  After some quiet thought and contemplation, I decided to take a trick from their own book, a "sister meeting."

Sister meetings began when the girls were little.  We would find them fully clothed sitting in the empty bath tub with the shower curtain pulled shut.  They would talk and giggle for hours.  When we would try to check on them they would politely tell us that we were interrupting their "sister meeting" and to please go away!

It was so fun to see them happy and enjoying each other.  As they grew up, they moved the meetings out of the bathtub and into other places in the house or yard.  They would plan all sorts of fun things together.  One time, they even made up a restaurant and menu for Charley and I to have a special dinner prepared by them.  They kicked us out of the kitchen and made sandwiches.  Then Sierra played the hostess, Sydnee the waitress, and Savannah was the chef.  


These sister meetings then grew into fashion shows, make-overs, photo shoots, movie nights, dance parties, and sleep overs in each other's rooms.  Seeing them plan a sleepover and getting all excited about the movies they want to watch, the snack foods they need to make, and the things they wanted to do made my heart happy.  They would put together power point presentations with background music to present their vacation ideas and friend party requests.  

  
These sister meetings changed when the older two started high school and started to be replace by emotional breakdowns.  Occasionally, we would have something happen that would pull them back together and we would have months of good times.  I had to help them find one of those reasons to reconnect.  So at 11:30 at night when they walked in the door all angry at each other over whose turn it was to ride in the front seat of the car, I decided it was time to call a sister meeting.  After an hour of sitting on the floor taking turns talking about what makes us mad, cranky, angry, feel left out, hurt, or [insert other feeling here], we finally got to the point where I could see their loving side come back out.


These are the girls I love, the ones that know how to come together and focus on what is good and right.  This picture is of them with Charley after he was moved from the trauma unit at KU Med to the rehab floor at Lawrence Memorial Hospital a few weeks after the car accident that he and the older two girls were in on February 10, 2012.  This moment, when they were finally all together again at the same time, recognizing that their dad was going to get better and he was one step closer to coming home.  These girls had been truly afraid that they were going to loose their dad and they pulled together and got each other through it.  

It made my heart so happy to see and hear them finally break down the walls that they had built up over the last few weeks and really talk.  They listened, they accepted fault, they apologize, they forgave, they loved, and they laughed.  They made me laugh so hard I cried from the silly things that they said and did and also from the pure joy of seeing them love each other.  I am so blessed to have shared that moment with them, I am thankful they were able to share their pain and fears in such healthy and healing ways.  Nothing makes me happier than seeing the three of them love each other, serve each other, and laugh together.  

So thankful for these mostly lovely ladies!

1 comment:

  1. I love your little family, they are so very special. Thank You for sharing

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