Sisters!

Friday finally got here, and so did my sister, Charla! With Mom being so wonderfully tended to by her sister Emily, my sister was able to come see---and amazingly help---me. But before we headed out for the bulk of the work, we had a fabulous couple of days in Fort Worth.

Granted, Charla and I lead such very different lives. She's been married almost seventeen years to a wonderful man, David. They have four daughters in their lives (the oldest is my sister's step-daughter, Jamie (whose mom is Laurie, a fabulous woman who's become an absolute part of my family too))----Jamie (20); Anna (13); Abby (12); and Molly (8). Charla is a full-time mom and wife but also manages to work part-time at Molly's school. With girl scouts, music and art lessons, sports for everyone, and seeing friends, family, etc., this is one busy family! (ahh---and two dogs---can't forget Muffin & Spanky!)

And me? Never married, no children, formerly focused on education and pursuing multiple advanced degrees and now career driven. Dating (sometimes), going out with friends, etc.

Compare Everybody Loves Raymond to Sex in the City. Or compare Bree & Lynette on Desperate Housewives to Meredith and Izzy on Grey's. Even the two sisters on Brothers & Sisters---Kitty vs. Sarah---give you a good picture of some of those differences. Okay, I think you get it. :-)

(For our road trip to Memphis, I took along a number of magazines I subscribe to that I just haven't had time to read. Toward the end of the trip, Charla commented how different our magazines are. And how wonderfully they fit each of us. After all, her magazines focus on raising kids, family life, and the like. Mine focus more on just women---fitness, activities, etc. Oh--and my Body + Soul, which addresses the environment, yoga, inner spirituality, and such as that. (skeptically accused of having a political agenda by my dear sibling. Well, sure, but one I support! recall---I'm the black sheep when it comes to such. Most of my family wants to complain such complaints as it takes too much energy to recycle things without realizing the true tree huggers would have done a complete cost/benefit analysis of such issues. At least so I'm convinced. Sure, maybe some recycling causes a little air pollution in the process, but it's offset by all the trees and natural resources saved. Anyway....)

Friday, we had a fabulous dinner at La Familia---a favorite tex-mex place in Fort Worth. We followed that up with a visit to Fred's Texas and just caught the end of the live jazz band that plays most Friday nights. It was a wonderful night---even if spotted with moments of nostalgia that threatened to induce tears. Charla made a wonderful point of how perfect it was that she and her family spent their family vacation in Fort Worth last year with me---the summer before I moved away from Texas. We had a great time last summer---visiting the Fort Worth Currency facility (I still love remembering Molly's expression when she finally realized---"that's all money!" upon seeing the huge stacks of one-dollar bills.), going to Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, and the circus. We also had a great time that first night having dinner at Joe T's---a place everyone should enjoy a margarita on the patio.)

Here's a shot of the band at Fred's and one of Charla and me there.















On Saturday, we ran lots of errands, taking care of just about everything on our list. We shopped, had our toenails painted, then went to a special preview of an exhibit at the Kimbell (The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso--"Featuring 80 to 100 paintings and a small number of sculptures by artists including Cézanne, van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Kokoschka, Beckmann, Bacon, and Dubuffet, the exhibition uses Picasso as a constant reference point, following the changes in his style in relation to trends in portraiture throughout Europe.") I also got to show Charla some of my favorite pics of their permanent collection. Next, we had a snack and martini at Michael's on 7th then finally headed off to Central Market---to gather our picnic supplies.

Indeed, Saturday night was reserved for Concert in the Gardens sponsored by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. And what a fabulous evening! Oh goodness--it was grand!

It had rained all day, but as concert time approached, the rain finally let up. And the sky even cleared before the orchestra took the stage. And what a wonderful show it was!
And the concert that night was "A Night at the Oscars"---a tribute to the fabulous music from the movies.

We had such fun! We started off with a bottle of champagne, toasting my new life and our relationship. We had a wonderful picnic too---fabulous cheeses, fruits, crackers, spreads, and such. And when the orchestra played the montage of all the major songs from The Sound of Music---well, Fabulous! They had just played Colonel Bogey, and the conductor not only invited the audience to whistle along, he directed them too! So with the Sound of Music songs, he invited us to sing along. And sing, we did!

See, our Mom did something wonderful by giving us a love of music. And Charla and I grew up listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack. We also excitedly gathered every year when the movie came on tv. It was even the first major play both of us saw---our grandmother took us to see it at Fair Park. (Shirley Jones played Maria.)

So yes, we had so much fun! In fact, after the show, the woman behind us asked if we were sisters. Then she commented that she was jealous---because we looked like we had had just so much fun with the show. She was right.

After the show, we headed on home to start loading the van. Mom had lent us her van to use for the trip to Memphis so I could take my office boxes and my houseplants. It was a long night, but a great one. And just the beginning of our journey.