Sisters being sisters

Sometimes my three daughters sit around the kitchen table and do their nails and talk.

This sounds like a pretty mundane activity, and I guess it is. But I love when they do it.

I don't love when they leave the big plastic container of nail polish on the table and it's still there the next morning. Or when they don't push their chairs in after they're finished.

But I can live with those things if it means that from time to time, my girls get to sit around that table and just be sisters.

This is what you want when you have multiple kids, of course. You want them always to be close. You want them to love each other like you love them.

They will argue. That's inevitable. They have different personalities, and sometimes that means different attitudes that will lead to fights. It happens.

But in the end, long after you're gone, you hope that they'll be close. You hope that someday they'll still be sitting around that table telling stories about you. Chances are they'll make fun of something you did or something you used to say all the time. And that's OK.

Just so long as they're talking and laughing and having fun together. Just so long as they're tight. Just so long as they understand the value of what they have in their siblings.

Elissa is going to be 21 years old in a couple of months. That's stunning. It also means that a time is coming soon when she will be moving on, and those around-the-table nail-polishing sessions will become fewer and further between.

It happens. So it goes. Chloe and Melanie will do the same in not so many years.

But as they get older, wherever they're living and whatever they're doing, I hope they'll make a point of getting together regularly. The nail polish doesn't have to be a part of it, but their connection as sisters does. I hope they never let time, distance or busy schedules keep them apart for too long.

However it goes, I just hope they eventually learn to push their chairs in when they're finished. And put the nail polish away, too, girls. Your father would appreciate it.