Soul Sistas

I've been blessed with sisters. Lots of them actually. Four biological ones- *Aurora,* Jasmine, *Bubbles, and *Bella, not their real names obviously. This picture is several years old now, but the only one I could find with all of us together...I will have to work on that.I posted briefly about them in my first post ever and this is what I said "My oldest sister (*Aurora), only three years older than myself, is funny and has NO inhibitions; I consider myself a fairly private person so she makes me step outside of my comfort zone, a lot. She also instilled my love of literature. My second oldest sister(*Jasmine) is only two years older than I and she is going to school across the country from me studying and working hard, maybe going to med school. She lives a very different life from myself and she has taught me so much about understanding others and unconditional love. She is always challenging me to think in different ways and I love her dearly. My younger sister(*Bubbles) is turning 17 this week (if you just rolled your eyes and groaned- I'm with you) and is boy crazy!! It's funny talking to her because of all the things she wants to tell me about boys and school and seemingly silly things, but she always surprises me with her deep insights and profound spirituality. My youngest sister(*Bella) is two years younger than the 17 year old. She is the tiny tomboy of the family. Over the years, her and I have shared a love of dancing so we always dance together. She is talented with the piano, singing, acting, and art- to name a few. Always thoughtful, she is caring and loving even when she's rocking out." They are women of laughter and intelligence, a bit stubborn and nevertheless endearing. We are constantly growing and learning from each other, and yes, sometimes frustrating each other. But we are learning how to be ourselves and have our separate lives and still be united. Not an easy task so far, but definitely worth it.

Throughout my life I've met incredible women- family, friends, and even strangers. Aunts, cousins, teachers, visiting teachers, co-workers, and the rare kindred spirit. There is something to be learned from all of them. They are truly my angels, my sanity checks, and my spotters.
I want to talk about one more sister today though. Emilee. Yes, that's her real name because she said I could. And yes, the one I congratulated months ago on her engagement and have been counting down til her wedding next week. This is definitely appropriate timing because when I return from my visit to her I will be posting pictures and sharing some adventures.So here's Emilee!! We met our freshmen year at BYU, had several classes together, and lived in the same dorm. We joke they we were neighbors in heaven before and will be once again. I can just see us on the PTA together and throwing block parties. Emilee once posted on my Facebook wall " The Harry Potter website just told me that we'd be friends forever. It knows." I couldn't agree more. And then there was the time we worked together on a project from the boys in our ward, and the time we had a love quote battle on fb, the times one of us would call the other and somehow the other one would be crying at the same time!! About 18 months ago she moved back to Arizona and I've seen her twice since then- last Christmas and this past April the day she got engaged. I just want to tell you some of the things I love about her: I love the way she listens to me, I love the way she can tell me I'm wrong and not make it sound like an insult, I love the way she laughs when she is absolutely happy, I love the way she takes care of the people around her be it family, roommates, or friends, and I love that I can talk to her about anything and everything. I'm sure I will gush more about Em after I come back from her wedding. Here is a beautiful picture of Emilee and her fiance, H.

To kindred spirits and to soul sistas!