I’ll never forget the day my grandma passed away in 2012. She’d experienced several strokes that debilitated her more and more with every blow. In the end, she was in the hospital in Arkansas just waiting.
She was ready to go home.
It was an especially busy and stressful season of life for Dad. But every time she’d get worse, he’d drop everything, jump in his car and make the three-hour drive to be by her side. All of the rest of us had careers and kids to manage so we weren’t able to do the same. It seemed like when Dad would walk in the hospital, she would instantly get better.
She just needed him by her side.
When the night finally came, Dad called us. We all dropped everything and got on a 5-way conference call. I knelt down beside my bed and we each got a chance to say goodbye. We shared our favorite memories. We thanked her for her love and devotion. Then Michelle sang her favorite hymn.
It was one of the most beautiful, and painful, moments of my life. (This is a slow going blog because it’s hard to manage the tissues & the keyboard simultaneously, gah!)
We met in Arkansas for her services. It was a tearful reunion. We hugged for a very long time before approaching her beautiful pink casket together to say goodbye to the woman who helped shape us in so many ways. I was so grateful to have my sisters by my side.
It turns out, sisters were born for this.
There’s a verse in the bible that I never really understood until now.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother (sister) is born for a time of adversity.” ~ Proverbs 17:17
Not kidding, I always thought that verse was about sibling rivalry. I thought it meant friends will love you and sisters will fight with you. Oh, how very wrong I was!
When disaster strikes, when heartache sets in, when the world around you is crumbling, that’s what your sisters were born for.
I know I’m blessed to have three sisters by birth, but I believe with my whole heart, you can have sisters by choice. They’re not just the friends you have a good time with every now and then. They’re not the other moms you wave at on the soccer field.
Sisters are the friends you face adversity with.
They’re the ones you call when it’s time to say goodbye. They’re the ones who get the real story about why you’re not coming to dinner. They are the one’s you drop everything and head to the hospital with, just to sit together and hold hands in silence.
They are the women you invest your life in.
They are born over time. You don’t face the adversity moments together overnight. It takes months of showing up in the good times and the busy times. It takes loving each other through the stressful times. It takes laughter in the crazy times.
You make memories consistently over time.
Then when adversity strikes, and it always does, you look around you and find, your sisters were born for this.
Invest in them. Show up for them.
You were born for this.
to more love,
Crystal
P.S. This is exactly why we invest in our monthly Girl’s Night Out. We’ve done all the legwork, so you can show up with your friends and remind them, you were born for this. Come join us, two weeks from today for Simple, Soulful, Home with Kirsten Lile.
Especially if you’ve just been kicking the tires, wondering if this is the place for you.
This month you have no excuse! The cost of tickets has been offset by one of our sponsors, Grace Inspired Beauty, for this month only, they are only $29! ($19 if it’s your first time!)
Make it happen sister.
