Sisters

So yesterday I made the journey to Middle Tennessee to visit with the gals in my family. I guess you could say that I have a large family. My twin sister, Fay, and I were babies 5 and 6. We had a brother, Jimmy, who was 19 when we were born. Sadly, he is now deceased. We also had a brother, Johnny, who was 16 when we were born. Then there was our eldest sister, Sybil, who was 6, and Connie, our middle sister, who was 3. All have grown and married and have kids of their own. Jimmy, the oldest, married my sister-in-love, Freida, and they became parents all before I turned 2 years old. Their daughter, Pam, has always been more like a sister than a niece. At any rate, my beloved sister, Sybil, is moving to Tampa...today. Her husband had taken a job there many months ago, but she remained behind in Huntsville to finish out her career, and stay with the house and get it ready to go on the market. She also was staying fairly close by because her younger son, Greg, is in college at Trevecca in Nashville, plus the family was only a couple of hours away.

To say that she was there for me during my cancer battle is very much an understatement. We had the greatest distance between her home and mine--4 hours. Yet, Syb traveled the miles and the hours on numerous occasions just because that is what sisters do. She and Fay came and about worked themselves into the ground helping me deep clean prior to my surgery. Then they rotated out and came and stayed following my surgery. That's what sisters do. They held me when I cried and encouraged me with compliments of my strength and how impressed they were that my faith was keeping me together. That, too, is what sisters do.

Before the last round of chemo rolled around, during one of my 'down' moments, I was very emotional and on the phone with Syb. She offered to hang up, load up, and come to me. ...that's what sisters do. I didn't let her but during that conversation she asked me when my last round was scheduled and if I had a favorite place around here that I liked to go. I told her that my favorite place is the beach, but no, there's not any around here. The weekend of my last chemo, Syb came to be here to celebrate with us. But while I was away, she and Allie turned my living room into a beach scene complete with sand, wading pool full of water, inflatable whales and beach ball, beach chairs, umbrella, towels, buckets and shovels, etc. I don't know if that's what all sisters do, but that's what Sybil did. She also burned a DVD slide show of various beach scenes and Beach Boys music. Arriving home, I found Sybil and my Allie in shorts and tee's with sunglasses on and ready to sit on "the beach"! I love my family!

Some months later, I was sooo blessed and honored to have Sybil with me at "my" beach, Litchfield, SC. Although we've been vacationing there for 20 years or so, this is the first year that Sybil made the trip and joined us. What a blessing!

Anyway, yesterday I traveled to Middle Tennessee to see her and to bid her farewell before she moves to Tampa to re-join her family. I'm going to miss her. (another understatement!!) Sybil was the closest thing to a "mom" that I had while I fought my battle. And letting her go knowing that our visits with one another are now likely going to be limited to 2-3 per year as opposed to our monthly visits is a new and excruciating heartfelt pain. But it is necessary, and I know this. You see, Sybil's husband, Dave, does not know Jesus. And though my family has prayed for him for years, he is still distant from God. We (the sisters) are convinced that should she (Sybil) choose to stay in Huntsville where she is closer to us, David will likely never come to know God. We are all in agreement that family is your first mission field. And we are all in agreement that we want David with us in eternity. So painful as it may be, we are letting go, and sending her to her family, undergirding her with prayers, love, and well-wishes...because...broken-hearted or not, that's what sisters do.

I love you, Sybil, and I'm going to miss you greatly!