A Tale of Four Sisters

4 Sisters: Here we are all wearing our tie-die shirts from our last get together 4 years ago.

We may have grown up together—same family, same neighborhood, same schools—but we are all different in significant ways.

Betsy, mother of three and grandmother of six, has been a nurse in NICU and hospice. She and her husband built their mountain home which she keeps spotless and aces crossword puzzles.

Judy (yours truly) is a writer, a missionary, former magazine editor, a Texan away from home, a sports fan and briefly a soccer coach, with three children and 10 grands.

Mary has two children and two grands and has been a teacher, a horsewoman, a masseuse, an aquaponic gardener and other interests.

Susan has sold RV’s, worked as a pawnbroker, been a farmer and an artist, but most of all is a servant and encourager. She is a mother of two, stepmom to two, and grandmother to six.

We were all together after our mother passed 14 years ago. As we sorted through her things, we talked—lots of memories and stories. And it hit us—we usually saw each other when our mother brought us all together. We recognized that, if we were not intentional, we might not see each other often, or again.

So we committed to get together for a week every two years. Which we have done—Texas, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona—until Covid. It’s now been four years. We have just wrapped up a week at Betsy’s place in Westcliffe, CO.

At 8,000 feet, it was cooler than Orlando, beautiful every way you turn, and a little shy on oxygen for my lungs that live at 200 feet. We did puzzles, played games, took a hard walk (not me), and, of course, talked. It was a great time.

Here are some pictures:

4 Sisters: The first pic of my week with my sisters at 8000 feet in Colorado, taken as we relaxed and talked after dinner on the deck. This is the looking West view.

South view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. And an awesome conversation about words and meanings and history and etymology.

East view. I got up early to capture the sunrise. Oatmeal and berries for breakfast. Listening to classical music. So peaceful.

North view. Today we told family stories, worked on a 1000-piece puzzle and played Scrabble. I did not win. So lovely and peaceful.

Mary, Betsy, Susan, Judy with our beautiful puzzle. My contribution was minor. We exchanged our gifts for each other and bought gifts for family at cute shops.

Westcliffe is a dark skies town. We went into the local cemetery to watch the strawberry moon rise! Spectacular!

c2022 Judy Douglass