For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands. ~Christina Rossetti

I just noticed online that it is Sibling Day. For me, that is the same as sisters day since I have two sisters and no brothers.  The picture is a very old one of us sisters when we were young. I’m the one trying to escape or perhaps to find my own kitten to hold. My sisters and I have always lived in the same area. We’ve always spent time together and still do. When one of us needs help, we know who to call.  Sisters drop everything to come to the aid of a sister.

“Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.”—Carol Saline

Sisters are alike in so many ways and different in just as many. We grew up together. There were six years between oldest to youngest. The youngest, me, sometimes thought the oldest got all the best of everything. The oldest thought the baby, again me, got the best of everything. The sister in the middle just looked at us and shook her head. She was really the one that held everything together.

“A sister is both your mirror—and your opposite.”—Elizabeth Fishel

Sisters know about carrying in wood and pulling tobacco plants and looking for new kittens in the barn loft. They remember bottle feeding lambs and calves. They know about walking through the field to catch the school bus in the very early mornings. They know about the good times and the sad times.

“A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.”—Marion C. Garretty

A sister is the one who might think you were a super pest as a kid, but will give you the benefit of the doubt that maybe you will grow up to amount to something.

“There’s no better friend than a sister.”―Mary Engelbreit

Sisters marry. Sisters have kids. Sisters go off on different paths, but they are still sisters.

“You are blood. You are sisters. No man can break that bond.”—Kim Boykin

My mother had three sisters and no brothers. My mother was the second oldest but was often the take charge sister. They had some rough years during the Great Depression years, but the stories they shared when they were older were always full of love and fun. They loved to talk about the odd characters in their little communites and sometimes the youngest sister would laugh and say that maybe they were the oddest of them all. Sometimes she would also say that everybody couldn’t be perfect like they were.

I loved listening to their stories when I was a girl. Then when Mom got older and I often took her to doctor appointments, I used the waiting room time to ask her questions about her growing up years. She loved talking about that time.  Those stories were the inspiration for my book, Angel Sister, and then later the other Rosey Corner books, Small Town Girl and Love Comes Home. The story wasn’t their story, but their memories are threaded into the background and make the stories better.  This picture of Mom and her sisters was before her youngest sister was born. Mom is the one on the right.

“Look inside any sister relationship and you’ll find a wealth of interesting stories.”—Colleen Sell

Many of my stories have sisters as characters. My two young sisters in When the Meadow Blooms were the starting point idea. But if my characters don’t have birth sisters, they sometimes find sisters of the heart. I liked exploring the sister feelings between my Shaker characters in my Shaker stories and especially focused on that in my last Shaker book, The Refuge. 

“But the love of sisters needs no words. It does not depend on memories, or mementos, or proof. It runs as deep as a heartbeat. It is as ever present as a pulse.”—Lisa Wingate

So happy Sibling Day to you if you have brothers or sisters.

What is the best thing about having siblings?