This last weekend, nine of the sisters and sisters-in-law got together for the annual sister/sister-in-law get together in Michigan. We’ve been doing this since 1997 and renting the same house since 1999. We skipped 2015 for Stacey and Ari’s wedding, but that’s the only year we missed. We’ve weathered some changes through the years. We had two out of towners join us: Catherine from Ohio and Teresa from Denver. Catherine has a spotty attendance record. This is the Catherine that I spent most of my life sharing a room with. The Catherine that I bickered with over clothes and shoes. We got along better when we didn’t have to share a room anymore. We got along even better when we didn’t have to share a roof anymore. We got along even better when we didn’t have to share a state anymore. I hope we stop at the state level though because if we move to different countries, continents, or land masses, it will be tough to enjoy getting along so well with the distance between us. Teresa, the other out of towner, moved to Denver when I was nine. I didn’t know her that well as a kid. She was lumped in the “big kid” group of the family. Through the years, she was the perfect person to send Flat Stanley to. Flat Stanley had adventures I haven’t even done. And she was the perfect host for visits out west with the kids, even if we did have to sleep in a pop up camper in her back yard one time (it was our choice!).

Anyway, I digress. For those wondering, we had Debbie, Jeannie, Gayle, Jeanne, Teresa, Laura, Meg, Catherine, and me. Don’t worry, Catherine and I didn’t have to share a room! We missed Sharon, Audra, and Mel. One year we will get ALL of us there. One of our annual traditions is to swim in Lake Michigan. This weekend, the air was warm, but Lake Michigan was FREEZING. It was actually colder by the shoreline, and warmed up a little further out. Although, the space we were swimming in probably didn’t go over 65 degrees. I am sure we are quite a spectacle. The area of New Buffalo that we rent has slowly lost its shoreline. At some point, large boulders with sharp, pointy, angry edges were dropped to stop the march of erosion towards the houses. So, to swim, we must first scale the boulders. I wish I had a picture of us doing this, but middle aged women in swim suits climbing awkwardly over a boulder wall does not make a good picture. Well, I suspect anyway. Then we swam about 100 yards along the shoreline to scale another boulder wall, so we could jump around at the top in Rocky style. Scaling one boulder wall in a swim suit is just not enough.

We shared laughs, prosecco, meals and mediocre wine, and I marveled at how lucky I am. I was born into a great cacophony of women, and then the men in the family added a fantastic group of additional women. I grew up multiple times with their shoulders to cry on and sage advice to take home with me. Okay, their advice isn’t always sage, but it’s still good to get different opinions. And besides, I am not actually required to follow the advice. Besides, we never all agree, so there could be several different pieces of advice to address the same problem. And I have the reputation as the spunky, belligerent youngest sister, so I have to keep that in mind.

Another great weekend as we close the books on Sister/Sister-in-Law weekend for 2018. I bring home my advice I won’t use and the extra weight from all the ice cream I ate. I am changing the name to Sisters Weekend from now on though, because we are all really sisters, some by birth, some by marriage. Well, maybe I should ask the sisters-in-law. Maybe they don’t want to be any more associated with us than they have to. After all, they are already stuck with our difficult last name. And time marches on…