Sisters!

I have four sisters, with ten years between the oldest and youngest. Since my mum's recent death, we've spend a lot of time together, mostly walking through the different parks and trails of Toronto and talking. Despite our grief, we can still laugh. My mum taught us to take every opportunity in life to laugh.

Last weekend, we had a sleepover at my sister's house and cried a little, but we also laughed a lot.

It reminded me of one of my favorite weekends with my sisters. All five of us, plus one sister-in-law, rented a van and drove to Ottawa to visit my daughter, who was in her first year of university at the time. We wanted to skate on the canal during Winterlude. February in Ottawa is absolutely frigid! When we met my daughter at her dorm, we carried our skates and were dressed in a ton of layers, heavy hats and mittens, and our warmest winter coats. When we took the elevator to access the walkway to one end of the canal, all seven of us crowded in, the doors closed, we pressed the correct floor's button and went...nowhere.

The elevator was stuck. To my daughter's knowledge, there had been no problems with it in the months she had been using it.

We were able to call security, who had to bring in a repairman from his home. There was no one available on campus who could help us to get out. Shedding a MILLION layers of clothes, we built a pile waist high until we were down to one layer--camisoles and undershirts. It looked like we had built a bonfire of winter clothing in the middle of the floor.

After a while, impatient students started to knock on the elevator and we were laughing and yelling, "It's HOT in here. We're menopausal women. Get us out!" which thoroughly embarrassed my younger sister who was definitely NOT menopausal. My daughter laughed until her sides ached.

Half an hour later, we were rescued by an older gentleman who kindly averted his eyes while we pulled our layers back on.

We still laugh about that.

I'd love to hear your favorite stories about times spent with your sisters. For those of you with brothers? Definitely share your stories, too!