Soul Sisters

We first met when I was in ninth grade, and she was in the seventh grade in a small farming town in lower Alabama. Opposite, but alike if that makes sense. I was the competitive class clown. She was more reserved and serious. Both driven to succeed academically and escape.

I graduated high school and college and fled the state. This was back in the dark ages before social media and free long distance. I would get updates from home, but we lost touch for a few years. Shortly after I joined Facebook, we reconnected in a superficial way. The basic liking of a post or the occasional comment. Both dealing with the ups and downs of life not knowing at the time that we probably could have had meaningful discussions about the junk we were navigating.

Due to family obligations and the failure of my marriage, I moved back down to lower Alabama. It would be a few more years before I would actually learn that she was my soul sister, though. Everything happens in its own time. It was worth the wait and the difficult journey.

We would still connect on Facebook and several of our circles began to overlap. Interactions were becoming more frequent and meaningful. A deeper friendship was growing very slowly much like an oak tree from an acorn. So slowly that I didn't really notice at first.

Then, the pandemic happened. It would be the catalyst to growth. As an essential worker with asthma, it didn't take long for me to have my first round of quarantine. She brought me groceries and kept tabs on me. This has been repeated a few times with us alternating roles. We both have medical backgrounds and are born caregivers.

As if a pandemic wasn't enough, we had an incredibly active hurricane season. A massive tree fell on my home preventing me from easily escaping. One phone call and she is there with her husband, a saw, and the fire department making sure that I can get in and out safely. The house would be a total loss, but the love and trust in a soul sister was cemented forever.

She is the one who can actually get me to leave the safety of my writing cave and deal with people. She is the one who will call me out when necessary and gently put me back together when I completely fall apart. I trust her with the softest and messiest parts of my soul.

Neither of us necessarily enjoy spending too much time with our actual families. Instead, we have developed what is best described as our chosen family. The ones who actually have a choice tend to be much more supportive and caring. We see it play out during the holidays and on birthdays. Too much time with the relatives sends us scrambling for the comfort of a "blanket fort" and a dog or cat to cuddle.

This is playing out for me even as I write this story. My birthday is tomorrow. It is the first one that I will celebrate without my mom. My dad stopped by earlier today. He wished me a happy birthday and proceeded to let me know that I am a disappointment. I think I am just going to hide tomorrow with the phone turned off.

My soul sister made me a homemade meal of my favorite foods. She and her husband took me to the movies. She made me feel loved and important. Everyone needs that. I am so incredibly thankful and blessed that after three decades, she's still there for me.