Three Crazy Sisters

On Thursday and Friday for the first time in a long while I got to be with my sisters.  We were given some potentially devastating news and we are nothing if we aren’t supportive during difficult times.  We piled in the car with my mom and drove to get my grandma in Apple Valley.  After two days I found myself exhausted but completely thankful and not wanting it to end.

I have two sisters…together we are 41, 42 and 44.  We are all driven, constantly moving and doing.  We are all creative and quilt as an outlet for that creativity.  It brings fulfillment and without creating we are bored.  We are all mothers and take that title so seriously that it describes the very core of us.  We love our kids to a fault.  When they are happy we are thrilled, when they hurt we ache, when they are disappointed, we are devastated. 

My daughter describes us as three of the same person and when we are together we slip into a world where we almost telepathically communicate and uncontrollably laugh.  We are all sisters of the same mother, all parts of the same, all equally different. 

Temre is the oldest, the Romantic, the Funny One. There is no situation that she can not make hilarious and spending one good day with her can keep you giggling for days to come.  She is the most emotional and not only wears her heart on her sleeve she wears her emotions pinned all over the front of her.  She carries them with her and periodically they weigh her down completely.

With complete abandon she loves and works and the rest of the world fades.  She has found balance as she has gotten older, and with that balance she has found a drive that is admirable. 

Buffie is the youngest, the Realist, the Skinny One.  She has always been so naturally thin that she had us forever longing.  She is the baby of the family and she is the peacemaker.  The one who wants everyone to be happy at any cost.  She is so unpretentious and humble that she can poke fun at your weakest parts and because it is so honest it is impossible to do anything but laugh.

 Buffie is generous and viciously loyal, she is selfless financially and emotionally to a fault and definitely the most compassionate, but she carries her worries inside, shoving them further and further down until they eat at her health.  As she has matured she has learned much about self restraint and how to do many things well but thankfully she has never learned how to stop loving unconditionally.

I am the middle girl, the Idealist, the Pretty, Smart One.  First, I get two labels because I have so many other negative ones, second before you take them as me being prideful, you have to realize that in the order of importance I rank at the bottom, with Funny being the most desirable trait and Skinny in a close second, if not first sometimes.

I am definitely practical to a fault and tend to take myself too seriously most of the time.  I carry my cares neatly packed in a backpack, where I can’t see them and am in control of what I deal with and when.  Unfortunately most of the time God allows me to trip, spilling them all out at once where I have to let go of my control and surrender my pride. 

I will quickly trade emotion for information and compassion for honesty, which comes in handy only on the rare occasion and is why I am commonly the “mean sister” as well.  It is also the reason I cherish the attributes of my sisters so much to whom humor and compassion come so naturally.

We are coming into what could possibly be the most trying season of our lives as sisters, as mothers, as wives and as daughters. There quite possibly could be bickering, I’m pretty sure there will be tears…but I’m also sure the tears will be mixed with laughter and I’m positive that is what is going to keep us sane.