Many years ago, my sister and I started taking an annual “Sister Trip”, a long weekend together usually spent in the Gulf Shores, Alabama, area. It actually started as a Christmas shopping trip, but we always had so much fun that we decided to make it official. Originally, we would stay in a hotel in the area, once in a condo owned by one of the doctors I worked with at the time. After my mom passed away, we tried to work it out so that our trip would coincide with her birthday weekend (early November), a way for the two of us to honor her memory that would have pleased her greatly. Then, ten years ago, my sister and her husband bought a condo in Fairhope, Alabama, a beautiful little town on the Mobile Bay. And our Sister Trip had an official home. Oh, the wonderful times we have had there!! Shopping, eating, drinking oceans of wine, laughing, being sisters.
This past weekend was our last in the condo. It has been sold. After much hand wringing and soul searching, my sister and brother-in-law decided it was time to let it go and find a real house to live in full time there in Fairhope. Of course, we had a great weekend, but there was a bittersweet edge to it this time. Just knowing that I’d never again sleep in that living room on the fold out sofa, after imbibing a little too much wine, was nagging at my brain and heart the entire weekend. I know my sister was feeling it, too. As I drove away, I swallowed my tears, trying to be adult about it. I know things change and life moves on. I was lucky to have been able to share time there, get to know friends and neighbors there, grow to love it there. Fairhope will be home for my sister soon, but I’ll always miss that little condo. What a slice of heaven it was…
ceegee1958 