Attitude of Gratitude...Sisters!

30 Days of Gratitude...
As the Holiday Season approaches...and it is coming fast...I've been thinking about my life.  Am I the person I thought I would grow up to be?  Would my grandmothers be proud of me?  Deep thoughts, I know.

Thanksgiving is 30 days away and I have decided to work on being thankful...and to express gratitude for the many blessings and talents that God has given me.  For the next 30 days...and possibly more...I will write something I am thankful for somewhere in my post.

Today I spent the day with two of my sisters, Patti and Sandy.  We went to Gardner Village for lunch and shopping.  Gardner Village is a restored flour mill from the early days of Salt Lake City.  The mill sits in the midst of a quaint rustic "village" of small renovated houses that are now craft and gift shops.  It's especially fun around the holidays.  The outing was an early birthday treat for Sandy.  Needless to say we had a great time together.  The only thing that would have made it better was if Lisa could have been with us.  But she lives far away in the old Nevada mining town of Tonopah..."200 miles from anything", she says.

Sisters...

When I think of sisters, I think of the Haynes Sisters in "White Christmas" and the song they sing...

"Sisters, Sisters,

There were never such devoted sisters.

Never had to have a chaperone 'No, sir'

I'm there to keep my eye on her..."

Shirley

Unlike the Haynes Sisters, we weren't close as children.  My little sisters were simply nuisances I endured.  I was superior...in my mind...in age, beauty, and intellect. I am the oldest of the four Devey girls.  Patti is 4 years younger than I, followed by Sandy at 5 years and our baby sister Lisa who is 10 years my junior.  There were also two brothers in the mix, but this is a sister story.  I chose pictures of us as grade schoolers.  When I saw my sisters' sweet little faces, I wanted to weep for our lost childhood years.  I wanted to go back and play with those little girls.

Patti

"Caring, Sharing

Every little thing that we are wearing

When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome

She wore the dress and I stayed home..."

One of the disadvantages of little sisters...especially my little sisters is they liked to "borrow" my things...especially my favorite "pristine" white kneesocks...which I wore in the mistaken belief that they made my skinny calves look fuller.  I remember catching Sandy wearing a pair and chasing her outside...in her stocking feet...where she danced in the dirt and taunted me. Is nothing sacred?

Sandy

"All kinds of weather

We stick together

The same in the rain and sun

Two [four] diff'rent faces

But in tight places

We think and we act as one..."

Have you ever sat down with your family members to talk about old times and you start to tell a story of something that happened years ago...one of your siblings will inevitably say "It didn't happen like that...here is what I remember...?"  We each see the events of our lives through an individual looking glass.  I can be telling a story and Patti will say, "I remember that!"  She doesn't realize that it may have taken place before she was born or when she was too small to have experienced it.  But she does remember it...she's heard the story before!

Lisa

"Those who've seen us

Know that not a thing could come between us..."

That's where I'll stop the song.  Things did come between us...marriages, financial circumstances...and in my case, an ocean.  But like the tides are influenced by the pull of our moon's gravity, we as siblings are drawn to each other even as the years of our lives wane.  I'm not saying that we are aging...but the years are surely speeding by. 

The past few years since our mother passed away, we as sisters seem to be gravitating closer to each other.  We need each other.  Both of our brothers have died...our father feels their loss most keenly.  He has remarried and travels a lot...taking those journeys that our mother's bad health prevented for so many years.  One of the blessings of the Internet and social networking sites is that my sisters...especially Lisa...are only a few clicks away.  I can have daily contact about their everyday lives.  That's a good thing!

It is a blessing to reconnect with my sisters.  I am so grateful for them.