The girls...throughout my life we've always been there for each other. We consist of 3 sisters; Shirley, Barbara and Judy, Debbie and Cathy (Barbara's daughters), Carly (Cathy's daughter) and myself (I'm Shirley's daughter). Between us we've experienced 12 weddings and 7 divorces. We have been the moving party for each other, and have spent just about every Christmas together my entire life. We're close ~ we share something that I have discovered is quite rare...we've never fought with one another. When family members from out of town come to visit, the girls organize a dinner. We also have "girls' night in" for each other for our birthdays - we enjoy dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then back to Judy's to watch a movie over wine and snacks. We also take a couple of trips each year - Spring Fling and Fall Frolic. Yup - we're a close family, but we're also best friends. We owe this to our grandparents, who raised us to love and respect one another.

Okay, on to the adventure of the week...

Barbara & her husband Earl recently bought a new piece of furniture. What started out as a simple purchase of a bed evolved into a new bed, new hardwood flooring and fresh paint. Needless to say, their normally neat and tidy home was turned upside down in anticipation of paint and flooring crews. With the flooring done and the painting completed in the main living area, Barbara and Earl faced the daunting task of getting everything put away. On Saturday, I joined with "the girls" to help Barbara get her house back together. We just couldn't let her have all that fun by herself!

First, the flooring and the paint job were both gorgeous! My eyes panned around the room and then noticed that the sunroom was FILLED with all the living room furniture, lamps, pictures, etc...the kitchen was filled with dishes for the buffet and china cabinet. It was at that precise moment that although I know that Barbara and Earl have nice things...I didn't realize HOW MANY nice things they have...boxes and boxes of them!

Once all the girls arrived, we discussed where each piece of furniture should go. Once we got the furniture placed, then we started putting the smaller tables and cabinets in the room...then the things that are stored in them - Heaven forbid that they have a cabinet or drawer with nothing in it! That just wouldn't be right! Once we got one cabinet filled, we moved on to the next one. We stopped for lunch - Cathy and I via e-mail arranged for everyone to bring something to add to the lunch table - we had ourselves a small feast! Chicken salad and rolls, cherry tomatoes and cucumber spears, fresh concord grapes (off my vine),cheeses, crackers, Jell-o with fruit, coffee cake with cherry filling and blueberry/peach pie. See you tomorrow, Diet!

At the end of the day, Barbara had her living room all put back together, and her sunroom only had a few things that were going in other rooms. A rumble of thunder outside warned us that we were in for another storm. We all quickly got our "hug line" done and everyone headed for their respective homes.

On the way home, I reflected on the day. Barbara and Earl so appreciated us all jumping in to help get their house back in order and bring lunch to boot. We were all happy to help...who's house is next???