Sister Lunch

For more than a decade me and my sisters have been having sister lunch every Wednesday at noon at a little restaurant in town.  It started with “hey let’s get together and have lunch.” I think it has always been on Wednesday.  We have had to change the day a few times because of one sister or another being out of town.  We sometimes do it on Friday.  But for the most part it is always on Wednesday.  The restaurant where we meet is a combination of American and Italian food.  The Gondolier in Sweetwater. The owners know us and when we walk in we have a particular side of the restaurant and a table where we sit.  Well this actually depends on how many people are coming to sister Lunch. I’ll explain more about that in a minute. The waitress knows our drink order and usually meets us at the table with our drinks.

When Sister Lunch first started it was me and my two sisters Sandy and Pat. My sister Carolyn lived in Georgia at the time and couldn’t often make it to sister lunch.

The three of us would get together and catch up on the weekly happenings in our lives. We would give encouragement, advice, listen to troubles and basically solve all the world’s problems. You would be amazed at what all we could discuss in an hour. We have been there through kids, grandkids, illness, breakups, jobs, retirement, death and just about anything you can imagine. Oh and we laugh and laugh.

When we leave the restaurant we stand in the parking lot and hug and yell I love you to each other like we won’t see each other for months. People sometimes look at us a little strangely. Most of the time we will be seeing each other in a day or two. But hey you never know.

After a few years my sister Carolyn retired from her job in Georgia and moved back to Tennessee. She became a regular at sister lunch.

My niece also came to lunch when she could and her two boys would join us when they weren’t in school. Then my nephew and his wife started meeting us when they had a free day.  My cousin Cathy and her husband Carl came from Texas to visit their granddaughter in Tennessee and came to Sister Lunch.

My sister Carolyn passed away suddenly a couple of years ago. We didn’t go to sister lunch for a while because it was just too painful not having her there.

We soon returned to having Sister Lunch though because we knew she would want us to do that.

Me and my sisters and my niece Tammy also do a Sister Trip.  We usually go somewhere close by like Gatlinburg Tennessee for a few days.  Here is a recap of our Sister Trip  last year.

After my sister passed away her daughter started joining us. At times we might have up to eight or nine people at Sister Lunch. If someone is having a birthday or getting close to their Birthday we put a balloon on their chair and bring a Birthday cake. We never miss a reason to celebrate and have cake.

The number of people who come to Sister Lunch goes up and down but it is almost always me and my sisters, Sandy and Pat.

We figure we have been to over 500 lunches and spent thousands of dollars and shared billions of laughs. I think that is time very well spent.

I wouldn’t give anything for our Sister Lunches.  So if you are ever in Sweetwater on a Wednesday at noon.  Join us at the Gondolier.  The more the merrier.

     This is a picture of several of us at Sister Lunch a couple of years ago.  I think it was my birthday.  

Remember always

Love your day your way