Last night after attending a sorority meeting, I turned on the Golden Girls as I usually do at bed time and I watched a Christmas episode. The girls were planning to “go home” for the Holidays. As is typical in most sitcoms their plans were derailed. They ended up in a diner on Christmas eve, sad that they couldn’t be with family. As they drank their coffee and told stories, they realized that they were with family. Even though they weren’t blood related, except for Dorothy and Sophia, they share their lives together and have become sisters.

Why did this episode spark my desire to write? Well, while at my meeting, the theme for the upcoming year was revealed.  It is ” Sisters by Choice”.  I admit that I have only been part of the group for a short while, but these women do seem like sisters to me and I always look forward to spending time with them.

In the past, when I first moved to my new hometown, I was always looking for reasons to ” go home”.  This week my husband is working in my hometown. I had the opportunity to go with him and see my family and friends, but I chose not to go. I had many reasons. I had sorority last night, had to vote today and a couple of other things going on this week.

I very well could have voted early and rearranged some thing, but the real reason that I stayed home was to see my “sisters”.  I absolutely love them.  No, we are not all best friends, we have some very different interests and world views, but when we  get together it does seem like family. I admit, being a newcomer to this town and to this group I don’t get most of the inside jokes or know every person, street or event discussed, but they make me feel very welcome. Every time that we get together I get a new memory and get to know another person a little better.

I am not sure if I will ever get close to any one of them in the way that the Girls in the show had become, but its just nice being a part of something. It took me six years, but I finally feel that this is my home. They say (whoever they are) that “home is where your heart is”. I love my family “back home”, but I also feel that I have a new family here. My heart is here and they are my sisters, not by blood but by choice!  Since being a part of the group this is the third theme. I honestly couldn’t tell you the others, but the one for next year just really stands out for me. “Sisters by Choice” for me is more than three words on a button or t-shirt. It’s about choosing who you want in your life and the amazing feeling that they chose you.