Every morning for five days a week, I plunge into the stressful early morning rush of preparing my children for school immediately after waking up. I cook breakfast and pack lunches, lay out school uniforms, and give out reminders–from ID cards to allowance.

Sisters in fun and pain. (From right) Lelani, me, Celine, and Rose (far left). Our group is not exclusive and expands to include friends of friends in various activities.

I’m mostly calm doing all these but there are times when I can’t help but shout, scold, groan at the slowpokes that are my children who seem to move slower as the time for departure nears.

Then they’re gone and everything gets so quiet, I immediately miss them. But only for a few seconds. Haha

What I love about my early mornings after my kids have gone is getting together with my women friends; although they’re not blood relatives, they’re the closest you can get to sisters without the added burden. *wink*

Ours is a communion of sort; it’s a sharing that’s not just intensely physical but spiritual as well. No, we don’t fall on bended knees and pray for hours. Nothing of the sort. We have breakfast together and share our joys and sorrows. They say a burden shared is a burden eased, and that is exactly what we do for one another.

They say you get to know yourself from the eyes of others and I’ve come to understand myself more by what they thought of me before we become close and how they view me now.
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