I've been considering the word, sister, and decided that it has so many meanings that perhaps if we consider, each meaning will bring a memory. Of course, there is the birth sister, the one who is your dear friend and your worst enemy. The one who sends you her last twenty dollars, but lies to your children, or husband, or parents. She is the one person your don't have to pretend for. If you feel generous, she knows, if you feel bitchy, she knows, and sometimes she is the recipient of these feelings. It is hard for me to think about my sisters. One I have not seen in five years, and the other is just barely returning to my world, cautiously testing the waters to see if she is ready to expose herself.

But there are other sisters. The first time I heard a hospital nurse referred to as a Sister, was in Adelaide South Australia where a dear friend had been bitten by an Australian brown snake. It is a very poisonous snake, so it was questionable for a while if he was going to make it. When the nurses came in he would always smile and call them sister, cooperate in every way, and seem to let down when they left the room. He was raised during war, and to him, the sisters were true Angels.

Then there are the Mormons, whose women refer to each other as Sister. Living on a ranch with a difficult husband and two small children, they were my nearest neighbors, and they reached out their hands to me when I needed friendship and comfort. I went to church with them, to "Women's Relief Society" on Wednesdays, and shared in their collective canning and preserving, sewing, or reading sessions. They were an important part of my survival in a place that was lonely. I never joined the church... couldn't accept Joseph Smith's various experiences and teachings, but I came to accept them as true believers, women for whom the word sister had real meaning, not just figurative meaning.

Of course, there are sister cities, sister hospitals, sister states, and you can fill in more here. One of my neighbors, defending another woman whose opinions were particularly abrasive to me, said, "Well, she is a sister and we need each other." My mind said, "Not me! I don't need her!" And hence another idea of sisterhood. But to me, girl friends are not sisters. They are partners with whom I participate in life's spectacles, good, bad, and indifferent. I need them.