As of today, my sister and I have four kiddos between us, and two on the way. They are currently five, turning four, turning three and turning two. Bridget is due with the fifth babe this week, and our little bean is due in ten more. This is the first time we’ve walked through our pregnancies together.

It’s a beautiful season of life to wade through with someone you love. This time around is unique for both of us in different ways, but to welcome our third babies so closely together is a joy I’m glad we didn’t miss. We have spent months now relating, sharing, commiserating and celebrating our pregnancies and our babies and nieces or nephews to come. I’m so thankful.

Bridget lives a long way away, and we’ve both worked hard to be intentional about connecting from afar. FaceTime is an amazing gift, allowing us to visit and chat almost weekly (sometimes more) with the kiddos around to connect with each other, too. We do our best to schedule visits to see each other whenever possible, which winds up being 3-4 times a year at this stage of our lives. And although it would be sweet to walk down the road and knock on her door in the day to day, I don’t feel disconnected at this distance–we love each other and one another’s families as best we can with the space between us. Our kiddos know each other remarkably well considering the divide, which says to me that we’re doing a reasonable job of keeping everyone connected.

I love and look forward to our face-to-face visits, but I value our late night phone calls and midday FaceTime chats just as much. The quality of our relationship is directly proportionate to the intentions we set to stay well-connected. She knows I’m always here, and I know she’s always there, and the sweet random texts and fun photos of the kids we exchange regularly keep the friendship of our sisterhood alive when life doesn’t permit longer conversations.

Today is Bridget’s birthday, and as she turns the corner on a new decade and prepares to enter into a new stage of life with three littles in tow, I’m celebrating all of the things that she and her family mean to me and mine. As we wait for our wee ones to enter the world, it’s so fun to share in the surprise of unknown genders and unknown birth dates and all that these little babies will add to the dynamics of our lives.

I’m also celebrating my longest standing friendship as it reaches the thirty year mark today. We were buddies from the start, and in spite of having our differences as sisters growing up, we’ve always remained friends. There is a sweetness to our relationship now that is no doubt the result of many years of seasoning and growth, both together and on our own. Bridget is a beautiful woman with a beautiful family. I love the ways that our maturing and adapting into roles as wives and mothers has drawn us closer, and I can’t wait to keep celebrating all of the good and laughing at all of the crazy with her in these next weeks and in the many years to come.

Happy Birthday, Sister! Happy Birthday, Auntie B! We love you and are so thankful God saw fit for us to do life together. You are one amazing woman!

XOXO,

mm