March 20, 2020, started the renewal for FIVE sisters. Our family dynamics changed for us when our parent’s 25-year marriage ended. Each of us developed our own talents, married, and became moms. But in spite of the many similarities, we just weren’t close.  

In January 2020 our mom passed away and we gathered together to pay our respects. As we re-lived some of our childhood memories, there were moments of tears and moments of laughter and yet after sharing these experiences, the closeness dissipated as we left going our separate ways.

Then surprisingly Covid-19 changed the relationship dynamics. As devastating as the effects of Covid are, for us it was the magic bullet! And here is why…..

As I tried to navigate the new norm, I considered my immediate family members that are at high risk.  I searched for a way to deal with these major changes and I wondered “how does this look for me?”

A neighbor helped me look at it in a different way. As we dutifully kept our mandated 6 feet apart,  we walked the well-beaten path around the small island which I live on. My friend shared with me a challenge that came as quite a surprise. Her cousin, who also has five sisters, challenged each other to clean out under their bathroom sink and text a picture to the sister group chat.

Hmmm! Would my sisters be interested in this challenge?? Acting on what I hope was an inspiration, I reached out to all my sisters in a group chat for the first time ever. “The under your sink challenge went out.” – Every sister accepted the challenge.

It went from “clean under the bathroom sink” to sharing more personal feelings. Which are helping us develop a stronger sisterhood. How did this happen? The common denominator of Covid actually brought us together. From early conversations about dirty to clean sinks, slowly evolved into, “How are you doing today? What’s your air quality? How do you make a bitmoji? What are you cooking for dinner tonight? What Netflix shows do you recommend? 

Our conversations have come a long way from our first group chat. We now know what is happening in each other’s lives, support each other’s ups and downs and celebrate together important milestones. We have connected every day since that first challenge was sent. Pretty amazing not a day went by that each sister texted!

Along with texting, we decided to have a weekly zoom meeting. Not just any zoom meeting, but one of “fun-ness!” Fun-ness is described as an activity that our whole families know is happing as we search for the perfect prop, gather art supplies, or find a  costume for whatever crazy thing we are doing.  We love it when our kids pop into our zoom meetings. One thing we have in common is we love to be creative. Here are a few innovated zoom sister nights;

Spa night – How do you do a spa night on zoom? Well, let’s just say one sister got the award for being the most creative; she zoomed from her bathtub (with her bathrobe on). That was so much fun we decided to try rock painting together. We each instructed a design to paint on a rock. Each rocked looked similar and yet different, just like each one of us. The competitive spirits became very apparent as we did a Triathlon – Everyone documented each leg of the triathlon with a picture or video. We now enjoy a fun video that we are proud of.

We continue to have many fun Monday zoom nights. Here are a few examples:  talent show, cooking, games, murder mystery, watercolor, zendoodle, escape room, gratitude journals, birthday parties, and a college graduation party.

Recently when shopping, I purchased shirts for each of my sisters that say “STRONGER TOGETHER” When I saw these shirts I thought; that is how I can define my sisters. We have become stronger together and I am loving it!