Sisters

Linda, Sue, Pat, and Carol…the Newell girls. We’re in our sixties now but I still think of myself as a Newell girl.

Life has spread us across the country: Washington, New York, Florida and Texas.  We don’t get together as much as we’d like, but last summer we spent a month together.  Sue lives in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York.  We descended on her and her husband and moved in for the month of July.  Days and days of time to just be together.

Sometimes when I say that people react like that would be their worst nightmare but for me, it was a delight.

Mornings were for walking in the beautiful countryside. Watching the wheat field ripen while swallows harvested grasshoppers from above.  Watching for deer and checking the fox den.

Afternoons were craft projects and outings. We made leaves out of concrete. We traveled up Keuka Lake several times to have beef on weck, a New York tradition. We had Friday fish fry (another New York tradition). We visited a winery or two and went to the Mennonite bulk food market

Evenings brought silent reading time. My brother-in-law likes to shut off the TV and read in the evening. Pat doesn’t like to read so she would spend her time sending us funny messages disrupting silent reading time with our giggles. She never fails to make us laugh.

My dad chronicled our lives in silent 8mm films. Sue had a box full of them. We set up the old projector and screen and filmed them with an iPad. So much laughter and a few tears. So many memories. Now the movies are accompanied by our commentary.  “Who was that?”  Pat always knew the answer.

Now we’re in our own homes and back to our group text.  We talk about what we did today, what we had for dinner, what we got in the mail (Sue gets bacon in the mail), what’s going on with our kids and our grandkids.  It’s still lots of laughter and a few tears.

On this International Women’s Day, I salute the women who are my sisters.  If any of you  are reading this, always remember:  You were always my favorite–don’t tell the others!