The other day, I noticed I had a missed call on my iphone from my sister Irene. So, I unlock the phone, see if she left a message, when I accidentally facetime her. Oops! I hang up before she answers because it’s first thing in the morning, and frankly, I’m not exactly looking my best.
You know those movies where the woman wakes up all tousled and sexy? She rolls over and looks at the guy next to her. “Hi,” he says and flashes that killer grin. And she smiles back and murmurs, “Hi.” Not high on the scale of witty comebacks, but he seems to like it because guess who’s late for work that morning. I’ll spare you Charlie and my version of this. Let’s just say neither one of us has been tardy for work in quite some time.
So anywho, five minutes later, Irene texts me to say she’d butt dialed me by mistake. I tell 
her I did the same thing with facetime because I didn’t have my glasses on. She says, “Me, too!” I send the laughing-so-hard-you’re-crying emoji, and she does the same. Then, we spend five minutes texting those bitmoji’s back and forth, trying to crack each other up.
I love having a sister! This week, we’re taking a sister day in Bangor. I can’t wait! We’re kicking off the whole thing with a massage, trying this new place, followed by a little shopping, and then we’re going to this Indian restaurant we both love. Our husbands aren’t quite as adventurous as we are in the food department, so we have to grab these opportunities while we can. I have no idea how to pronounce half the stuff on the menu, but Indian food is some good.
Irene and me try to schedule a sister day once a quarter. I mean, sure, we see each other for breakfast once a week, but there’s something about hanging out together all day, just the two of us, that’s really special. I keep encouraging Charlie to do the same with his brothers. No wives, no kids. It’s just a different level of talking without those distractions, you know?
Plus, a magical thing happens when I’m hanging out with Irene. We enjoy each other’s company so much, we’re having so much fun that people are drawn to us. We’ll be in the dressing room at Dress Barn. And someone will ask our opinion about what they’re trying on, and all of a sudden we become their shopping consultants. Folks will ask us for directions, and we might not know up front, but we’ll help them find out. Or we’ll be waiting to be seated at a restaurant, notice a couple of women trying to figure out the situation, and one of us will go, “The hostess is seating someone right now, but will be back in a bit.” Then we start gabbing with them and they end up joining us for lunch.
Moments like these, we feel like we’re channeling our mom. She was the same way. Almost every picture of her, she has her arm around the other person in the photograph, big smile on her face, her heart wide open. She was a force, our mom.
I’m looking forward to our sister day, I always do. I encourage you to spend some quality time with your sibs. Don’t have one or one worth spending time with? I’ll bet you have a friend who’s like a sister. And yes, I know life’s busy and it may be hard to carve out some time, but hey, life’s too short not to.
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
Hear Ida Tell It: Sister Day
This Week
June 2: Ida Comic Relief and MC for National Cancer Survivor Day, Living Well Center, 2:00pm, York, ME
Coming Up This Summer
June 17: The Moose in Me, the Moose in You!, Sable Lodge Retirement Community, 7:00pm, South Portland, ME
July 12: Makin’ Whoopie, Deertrees Theatre, 7:30pm, Harrison, ME
July 25: Book Reading, North Gorham Library, 7:00pm, Gorham, ME
August 22: The Best of Ida, ACT ONE Summer Festival, 2:00 & 7:30pm, Portsmouth, NH
August 24: The Best of Ida, Celebration Barn Theatre, 7:30pm, South Paris, ME
August 29: The Best of Ida, ACT ONE Summer Festival, 2:00 & 7:30pm, Portsmouth, NH
Check out my full schedule here.
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