sisterhood

 A great blessing in my life is that one of my very best friends has been my best friend since we were 2 years old. Nursery school, elementary school, junior high, camp, college vacations, slumber parties, traveling, young adult angst, adult angst, parenting angst... we've been together so long that she is part of the family.  Now she is one of Lily's godmothers, and officially part of our family.

My bestie and I at a dance recital. Think we were nervous?

This weekend we attended a family retreat with some folks from our church.  We spent a day and a night playing and eating together.  And Lily made a best friend.  She and "her girl", as she called her, were inseparable. Meaning, when we separated them (for potty trips, for meals, for bedtime), they cried and screamed.  In the morning, when they were re-united after the long night apart, they ran into each other's arms laughing with joy.  They spent the day running around holding hands.  Lily, the older and more mischievous of the two, thought of great ways to be silly, make messes and escape from the adults.  She pulled her poor friend through doors and yanked on her hair.  Whatever scrapes they got into, how ever many tears were shed, it didn't seem to matter. They were just happy to be together. They created their own little bubble of joy- a pretend playhouse they carried with them where ever they went.

Lily and her bestie playing house in the sunshine. 

Will this be a friendship that will last through decades? Through heartbreaks and separations, through misunderstandings and identity crisis?  Will this be a sisterhood forged in shared secrets, in-jokes, late night confessions, and long phone calls? How much trouble will Lily pull her friend into as they get older? (oh boy!)

However this partnership lasts, I hope my daughter is blessed with many long lasting friendships in her life.  Friends who will always be re-united with great joy, and who will create little pretend playhouses for themselves. Friends who will turn into sisters. 

Because we all need sisters, don't we?