survival sisters

About a month ago, Monica over at Daily Dwelling,

sent me an email with a link and a question...

"Doesn't this idea sound like fun????"

I quickly sent her a reply "Yes! Yes! Let's do it!"

The idea was to host a Sister Party to celebrate our real life sisters that are always there for us in life. You know what I mean - that friend who always remembers your birthday, who brings food when you have a baby, who comes over to your house and does your laundry when you are feeling overwhelmed. The women you aren't related to but you are bonded forever by friendship!

As a Military family, we move around every 2-4 years - and moving to a new place is one part adventure, three parts work!  Finding out where the grocery store is, where to get your hair done, which Pediatrician is best at the clinic, and of course... making new friends!

When we moved here to Germany, my boys were 2 yrs and 6 weeks old...

and 4 months later, my husband deployed to Iraq for 14 months...

Yes I said FOURTEEN months...

During those long months, my new friends became my family... We brought each other groceries when we were too sick to load up all the kids and go to the grocery store... Drank coffee while our children played together...Mourned together at memorial services for fallen soldiers... Celebrated our birthdays, our children's birthdays,our wedding anniversaries, and fourteen months of holidays together...

Since we all have small children, we decided not to have our Survival Sister Party at someone's home (so the Daddy's could feed our little people dinner and put them to bed!)...

and because it was the only "not-a-Bar/Nightclub" place open after 6 -- we met at the Bowling alley...

Ok, Burger King was open too... but we wanted Mozzarella sticks!!  :)

We had a fantastic time!  We sat at a table in the corner and just talked... and talked... and talked some more!  It was wonderful to enjoy their company without cutting up food for tiny fingers, rushing off to the bathroom to help someone go potty, or chasing a toddler down a slippery lane!

When my daughter Madeline was born in September, I had a strong sense of closure... the long deployment was finally over... even though my husband had been home for over three months... (since May)

And spending the evening with my Survival Sisters gave me a similar feeling... We had made it...  We were safe... Our husbands were safe...
We each had a "normal" family again...

 but I know we will always be Sisters...
 (thank goodness for Facebook right?)

Stop by tomorrow for some Survival Sister photo flashbacks!

Monica and Sidney also blogged about our party!

This post is linked to "A Sister Party" over at TheRunaMuck.
As well as "Your life, your blog" over at Real Life Blog.