Sarah and Lynne

Most of the year my sister and I live far apart. Really far. But while I am here in the Cleveland area this summer, we are relatively close... only a seven hour drive apart. Not bad compared to 7000 miles. Last week I made the drive to her house. We had Monday afternoon through Friday morning together, and for those few days it was as if we lived next door. It was pretending, really, but it felt good.

We painted Sarah's kitchen, at least part of it. We took the kids to vacation Bible school. We picked blueberries, just the two of us. We painted our toenails, and Sarah fixed mine for me when I tried to get fancy and messed up my big toe. We watched a little HGTV. We shopped at Old Navy. We shopped at a resale store, one of our favorite things to do together. We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 and sniffled and wiped our eyes through the emotional ending together. We took Madelyn to get her ears pierced. We worked out (only once!). We tie-dyed t-shirts bright pink in the kitchen sink. We walked in the creek and caught skating bugs with the kids. We talked. We bathed children and folded laundry. We cooked and washed dishes. We drove to New Jersey to take the kids to a new aquarium one afternoon. We sneaked bites of cheesecake. We read books to the kids on a blanket under the willow tree to fill the time after dinner, before we put them to bed.

It's amazing, really, to look at the list of all the things we did in less than four full days. What would it be like if we lived near each other, maybe even on the same street? I can't even imagine. I've wondered before if time together would seem as special if we could make it happen just any old time. I wager that it wouldn't, but I don't know if I will ever know. I do know that last week, it sure felt good to spend time with my sister.