Does this sound at all familiar..."She touched/looked/poked/licked (yep, true story) me", "I wish I was an only child", "It's all her fault", "stop mimicking me", "I hate you!", "you're ugly" (um, they all kinda look alike). Imagine all these comments being wailed at a decibel to cause small dogs to start howling. If you have daughters then you probably know a little of what I'm writing about. Whining, fighting, hurt feelings, emotional turmoil and girls go hand-in-hand. In my experience boys may be frustrating in other, more physical, ways. Like, they wrestle when they should be doing homework, wrestle when they should be cleaning, headlocks to show love and they eat, eat and eat some more. But with boys the interpersonal angst girls display toward each other is blessedly absent.

Some days it seems like my girls will never get along and every word or gesture, is a reason for them to feel justified in accusing the other in being "the worst sister ever!" When it's particularly bad you can find me huddled in a corner praying a Hail Mary, asking for the strength to face them while all out sister warfare's going on. Fortunately, where there's great animosity there's great love too. More often than not I find the little girls playing dolls or coloring together. The older girls painting the nails of the younger ones or leading them in a "fashion show" or made up game.

One particular calm day all my girls vanished into the basement, supposedly to "play a game". They were quiet, and not fighting, so I was happy to let them be. An hour later they all came up with smiles on their faces and my oldest showed me what they had been up to. She had taken three photos on her phone. The pictures blew me away, not because of my daughter's great photography skills, but because the snap shots had captured one of life's greatest joys, at least in my life, sisters.

Maybe they could have at least brushed their hair for the photo shoot!

Having five sisters myself I speak from experience. The love of my family has always been important to me and no one shows that love more than my sisters. Yes, they can be frustrating and think they know everything (especially those older ones!) but the truth is my sisters make me laugh harder than anyone, understand how I think and are always willing to give me encouragement and a push when needed. In other words they "get" me like no one else could. I'm aware I am blessed, not everyone gets along with their siblings as well as we do. So I pray my own daughters will have that special connection with each other. A connection where the joy of being together shines through all the "she looked at me funny" slights of childhood. I pray they always experience the JOY of being sisters.

Peace and Joy,

Sue

Sisters