In the last couple months my children have pretended to go camping, gone on an airplane, and gone to school. They have played different characters such as compassionate doctor and helpless patient, super aggressive tiger and really fast fox, inpatient mom and whiny child, and generously loving teacher and partially focused preschool student. They made rock ice cream cones, mud pies, and peach seed piles. They poked each other in the eye, hit their heads on concrete, scraped up knees on the pavement, and busted lips on bike handles. They played for hours without fighting and they have played for hours while fighting. They are learning things about being sisters that they wouldn't have learned in their normal pre-pandemic days.
Upon observing my daughters, strangers and well–meaning friends always want to know if they are “real sisters.” All adoptive families will hear this question and verbiage multiple times in their lives. I do not get offended; however I do take the opportunity to educate others on the correction positive adoption language. I answer the question in the same way every time. My daughters are not biological sisters, but they are indeed “real sisters.”
I am in awe of the countless events that had to line up and take place for my daughters to become real sisters. When they are at their most loving or going head to head, I am eternally grateful that their all–knowing and all–loving Heavenly Father from above placed them together. And although we talk adoption frequently in our household, I think it will be a few years until they realize how irreplaceable it is that they are real sisters.
I am hearing stories of children, especially middle and high school kids, that are struggling right now because they can’t spend time with their friends. Since my children are fairly young they don’t seem affected by this. They have not yet formed any friendships more important than each other and I honestly don’t know if they ever will.