Yesterday morning my day started by helping a friend pick out an outfit for a big video meeting she had. Our Marco Polo trio carefully helped her pick out the perfect earring/necklace combo and determine if she should wear a suit jacket or not. We complimented her beautifully curled, flowing blonde hair and wished her luck as she pulled out of her driveway for the first time in over a month. We ended our day together sending Marco Polo messages, singing along to Disney songs.
I simultaneously cued up a Zoom call for my sorority sisters – some of whom I haven’t talk to since college. We laughed while we talked about kids, “homeschooling”, and working with our spouses, while others shared news they’d been furloughed. Children, pets, and partners popped in and out of the frames – curious what all the laughter was about. We watched as a sister carefully straightened her hair before putting on her skull cap to head into the nightshift at the hospital – a shift she’s been working since COVID19 landed in her city. I teared up thinking about her sacrifice and her sweet family that she leaves at home every night.
It was magical. I loved it so much – apparently everyone did – we’re already scheduled again for next week. I went to bed with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.
I woke up this morning, remembering something that I said on a Facebook Live (Wellness Wednesday for Kappa Kappa Gamma) earlier this week:
That now is the time where sisterhood matters more than ever – and I don’t just mean “sorority sisters” either.
I mean friendship. I mean connection. I mean holding space for each other. I mean being in each others lives daily, talking about the really really important stuff and the seemingly mundane stuff, too.
I realized this morning that those moments, with my girlfriends, my “sisters”, and my sisters – that these moments have been my happiness anchor during this really dark and difficult time.
I know that many of my recent blogs have featured very real conversations about how hard things are for me right now – and the very real emotions I have been feeling. Those things are all very real, but you know what’s also been very real?
Happiness. Laughter. Smiles. Joy.
I can recall a hundred of these moments over the last 6 weeks. There’s been Facetime chats with a friend that lives on the other side of the country; we talk business, as fellow business owners, and the impact of the quarantine. We also talk about life, marriage, mortgages, and everything in between. There’s been text threads with some of my best friends who are struggling to balance kids, work, marriage, laundry – just like me. There’s Marco Polo’s of baby faces, tiny humans, and four-legged children. We’ve celebrated potty training, birthdays, taking showers, putting on make-up, wearing pants with buttons, and successfully keeping my sourdough “mother” alive. Each of them make me smile.
I know the quarantine and everything that has come along with it has been difficult for a lot of us. I’ve had some really dark moments. However, there’s one thing for certain that’s kept me from drifting off: sisterhood. It’s been my happiness anchor.
I challenge you to make it your anchor too. Friendship, connecting, talking with friends, and reconnecting with people we love, can give us a sense of normalcy, a sense of hope, and certainly joy that sustains us through the times that get really dark. Regardless of how you are feeling, I encourage you to reach out today to people in your life. A text, a facetime call, a marco polo, whatever.
Let sisterhood be your happiness anchor.
It certainly has been mine.