“I can’t wait for things to get back to normal!” I have heard this statement more and more as this situation goes on. My question is, “What will ‘normal’ be when this over? Hopefully normal will be more like sisters day. When you see a person who is special to you, your heart and face will light up. When you are apart from these people your heart will be at peace because you know they are somewhere thinking of you and feeling the same way for you. When you encounter a new person will you wonder is this my new friend. Will everyone who crosses your threshold be welcomed in and enrich your life.

What we must also remember about normal is that it is constantly changing. When we started sister day it was seven sisters and one sister-in-law sister. We came together each month and loved this special day. Now we are four sisters, one sister-in-law sister, one niece sister and one adopted sister friend. We come together once a month and still love this special day.

The days are less active and mostly calm and peaceful now. However, we still talk and share our lives and love. Having to cancel last month reminded us all what an important part of our life this day is.

This month those in attendance were Betty West, Lucy Branson our hostess, Mary Jo Crider, Linda Crider, Pam Hale and Sue Kleffner. You might have noticed that Shirley Huffman was missing from the roll. Her husband Bob was coming down with a bronchial problem with fever and coughing as symptoms. When she called to get him an appointment at the doctor’s office, the doctor told them to get to the hospital and get him a Covid test. This was Monday, so they were quarantined until Wednesday. The test was negative as we all knew it would be but they didn’t want to take the chance of passing it on.

For breakfast we had baked oatmeal with several bowls of toppings. Things you would put on a bowl of oatmeal. I can’t eat oatmeal so I had bananas. We all enjoyed the coffee and peach tea.

We sat around the table and talked for a while then slowly some drifted into the living room. We were all still together because Lucy’s house is open concept. We talked about old lamps the kind that have been passed down and came with precious memories of the loved ones who had it first.

Miss Betty brought an address book and each of us put our address and phone number in it. Like most of us she has two or three at home, not counting all the scraps of paper. She is trying to condense them into one place and make sure they are all up to date. I’m going to copy it when she’s finished then throw all my others away. Ha! Ha!

Did you know that if you put banana peels around the roots of your rosebushes they will flourish? I didn’t either, but I tried it and it really worked. I could see a big difference after only a week.

Several of the sisters have those beautiful clocks. You know the ones where the face comes apart and spins as it plays music on the hour then settles back in place when it stops. Those of us without one would like to have one. I told the others whoever draws my name for Christmas can get me one of those clocks. I was quickly reminded that they are slightly out of our price range by about a three digit number. Oh Well!

We spent some time looking at a couple of joke books. One is the picture cartoons that appear in the Conservation magazine. How that women comes up with all those ideas for animal jokes I’ll never know. They are real chucklers. The other book is a Catholic joke book. A lot of them are pretty funny but some of them are hilarious especially if you are Catholic.

Our cousin called and said she is moving back to her home place up by Dixon. She wanted to know if any of the Vienna sisters could be her driver when she needs to go somewhere. They said they couldn’t but would like to have a driver themselves. (Now don’t start calling for the job.)

Lunch time rolled around and again it was wonderful. Lucy prepared tomato soup, potato soup, sliced turkey and ham with a variety of crackers and celery and carrots with dip. Dessert was a chocolate cake with cool whip. Delicious!

We talked about the shortages caused by the pandemic. Besides paper products there are things like aloe gel, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer and quinine water – wait what? Some of the girls drink it for leg cramps. For weeks Walmart has been out of macaroni and cheese box mixes. I shutter when think this generation’s survival instincts had them running to get toilet paper when the pandemic started. “What…”

We have two more great grandchildren on the way. Our family is still growing. I wish I could spoil them all but knowing their great-grandmothers I think that will be taken care of.

The afternoon slipped by as the conversation flowed on. Family details and local happenings carried us into the middle of the afternoon. We wrapped up the day in our usual way even though hugs are forbidden. Social distancing was called for but none of us had a tape measure. So we set these rule aside for one day and with certain persons. We do observe and respect these safety measures on ordinary day but we all know there is nothing ordinary about sisters day.

Thank You to all the ordinary Heroes helping us during this time of crisis. All of you take care and be safe.

Thought: Staying positive does not mean that things will turn our okay. Rather, it is knowing you will be okay no matter how things turn out.

An Old Farmers Advice: Don’t corner something that you know is meaner then you are